1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910465748003321

Autore

Combes F.

Titolo

The Milky Way : structure, dynamics, formation and evolution / / Francoise Combes and James Lequeux

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Paris, [France] : , : EDP Sciences, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

2-7598-2001-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (195 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Collana

Current Natural Sciences

Disciplina

523.113

Soggetti

Galaxies - Evolution

Electronic books.

Milky Way

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Physical and astronomical constants -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The solar neighborhood -- 3 Structure and components of the Milky Way -- 4 The galactic center -- 5 Galactic dynamics -- 6 The chemical evolution of the Galaxy -- 7 Formation and evolution of the Galaxy -- 8 The Galaxy among its companions -- 9 The future -- Appendix 1. Stellar parameters -- Appendix 2. A few basic notions concerning the observations of the interstellar medium -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Our knowledge of the Milky Way has been deeply renewed since a dozen years, following the results of the astrometric satellite HIPPARCOS, and those of large stellar surveys. Many concepts thought to be well established disappeared, to be replaced by others going towards a larger complexity: in particular, the discovery of radial migrations of stars has blurred the simple image that we had of the Galactic disk. There has been large progress in some domains, for instance the physics of the Galactic Center with its super-massive black hole; other problems remain unsolved, such as the nature of the dark matter existing like a halo around our Galaxy. This book reviews our present knowledge of the Milky Way, in the simplest and most didactic way as possible. Basic notions are always recalled, which make the



book accessible to readers without any advanced formation in astronomy. This basic work will be very helpful to understand the results expected from GAIA, the new ESA astrometric satellite launched on December 19, 2013.