Institute of Advanced Studies
The Galactic Bulge
Date: Thursday, 10 September 2009
Time: 10am - 4pm
Venue: Old Senate Room, Irwin St Building (IAS), UWA
Register online: This masterclass has reached capacity. Thank you for your interest.
Enquiries: ias@uwa.edu.au or (+618) 6488 1340
An Institute of Advanced Studies Masterclass with Ken Freeman, Duffield Professor and E3 Distinguished Professor, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University and 2009 IAS Professor-at-Large
About this Masterclass
The central bulges of spiral galaxies can form via several routes. Some are produced during the assembly of galaxies, as smaller galaxies merge with larger ones. Others are formed through the violent instability of the stellar disk: the instability of the disk forms an asymmetric bar structure which then buckles to generate a box-shaped bulge. Yet others form slowly as angular momentum is gradually transported through the disk by a central bar or the spiral arms. We can study the motions and chemical properties of the bulge of our own Galaxy in great detail, and I will describe a large observational program which is aimed at determining how our bulge formed.
