Giovedì 7 aprile alle ore 15:00, la Prof.ssa Manuela Zoccali della Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile), terrà il web-seminar dal titolo: The Structure, Kinematics and Stellar Population of the Inner Milky Way.

Abstract

Our understanding of the stellar population of the Galactic bulge has improved significantly in the last 5-10 years, thanks to large near infrared photometric surveys such as VVV, coupled to massive spectroscopic campaigns such as ARGOS, Gaia ESO, GIBS and APOGEE.
They allowed us to establish that the bulge includes a main bar, made up of metal rich stars, with a boxy/peanut structure in its outer region, and a long, thin extension with scale length of ~4.5 kpc. In addition, there is a metal-poor spheroidal component, whose relative age, compared to the bar, is still debated. RR lyrae variables, tracing a pure old population, also seem to trace a spheroidal, non rotating component. The innermost region, often called Nuclear bulge, is still poorly characterized. I will review what we consider solid knowledge of the properties of the inner Milky Way, and what are still open questions, with mention to the possible formation scenarios.