The Milky Way: Structure, Dynamics, Formation and Evolution

Françoise Combes; James Lequeux; Michèle Leduc; Michel Le Bellac

Published by EDP Sciences 2016

The Milky Way

Structure, Dynamics, Formation and Evolution

Françoise Combes , James Lequeux , Michèle Leduc and Michel Le Bellac

In the series Current Natural Sciences

https://doi.org/10.1051/978-2-7598-2001-6

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Combes Françoise :

Françoise Combes est astronome à l’Observatoire de Paris et membre de l’Académie des sciences. Son activité couvre une très grande partie des sujets abordés dans ce livre, avec une prédilection pour les simulations numériques.

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Françoise Combes is professor at College de France, and member of the French Academy of Sciences. Her research activity at Paris Observatory covers a large range of topics addressed in this book, with a predilection for numerical simulations.

Leduc Michèle :

Michèle Leduc est directrice de recherche émérite CNRS au Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel et directrice de l’Institut Francilien de Recherche sur les Atomes Froids (IFRAF).

Lequeux James :

James Lequeux, astronome à l'Observatoire de Paris, est actif depuis cinquante ans dans différents domaines de l'astronomie, principalement l'étude de la matière interstellaire et des galaxies. Auteur de plusieurs ouvrages destinés aux spécialistes ou au grand public, il a été pendant quinze ans Rédacteur en chef du journal Astronomy & Astrophysics où les astronomes de toute l'Europe publient les résultats de leurs recherches : il s'est ainsi trouvé au centre de l'astronomie active, dans une position clé pour en écrire l'histoire. L’Académie des sciences lui a décerné le Prix Grammaticakis-Neuman 2014 d’histoire et philosophie des Sciences.

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James Lequeux is an astronomer emeritus of the Paris Observatory. He has published scientific biographies of Arago and Foucault in English, and many textbooks and popular books in French and in English. He has been awarded an important prize for the history and philosophy of science by the French Academy of sciences.

Le Bellac Michel :

Michel Le Bellac est professeur émérite à l’Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis. Ses travaux portent sur la physique théorique des particules élémentaires et la théorie quantique des champs à température finie.
Il est l’auteur de plusieurs manuels de physique à un niveau avancé et de deux livres dans la présente collection, « Le monde quantique » et « Les relativités ». Il est aussi co-auteur, toujours dans cette collection, de « Le temps : mesurable, réversible, insaisissable ».

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	III
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Physical and astronomical constants Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
1 Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The solar neighborhood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3 Structure and components of the Milky Way Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
4 The galactic center Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
5 Galactic dynamics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
6 The chemical evolution of the Galaxy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
7 Formation and evolution of the Galaxy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
8 The Galaxy among its companions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
9 The future Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Appendix 1. Stellar parameters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Appendix 2. A few basic notions concerning the observations of the interstellar medium Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 186
Keywords: Astronomy

eBook

Published: March 10, 2016
ISBN: 9782759820016

Hardcover

Published: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 9782759819157