Report by the ESA-ESO Working Group on
Galactic populations, chemistry and dynamics
Working Group Members
Catherine Turon (Chair)
catherine.turon@obspm.fr
Francesca Primas (Co-Chair)
fprimas@eso.org
James Binney
binney@thphys.ox.ac
Cristina Chiappini
cristina.chiappini@obs.unige.ch
Janet Drew
j.drew@herts.ac.uk
Amina Helmi
ahelmi@astro.rug.nl
Annie Robin
annie@obs-besancon
Sean Ryan
s.g.ryan@herts.ac.uk
Abstract of final report
Between the early 40s, when Baade showed the first evidence for the existence of
two distinct stellar populations, and today, with our Galaxy surprising us with new
substructures discovered almost on a monthly basis, it is clear that a remarkable
progress has been achieved in our understanding of the Galaxy, of its structure
and stellar populations, and of its chemical and dynamical signatures. Yet, some
questions have remained open and have proven to be very challenging.
The main task of this Working Group has been to review the state-of-theart
knowledge of the Milky Way galaxy, to identify the future challenges, and to
propose which tools (in terms of facilities, infrastructures, instruments, science
policies) would be needed to successfully tackle and solve the remaining open
questions. Considering the leadership position that Europe has reached in the
field of Galactic astronomy (thanks to the Hipparcos mission and the Very Large
Telescope) and looking at the (near-)future major initiatives it has undertaken
(VISTA and VST survey telescopes, Gaia mission), this work clearly has been
very timely.
It is of uttermost importance for European astronomy to keep and further
consolidate its leading position. This Working Group has made recommendations
that would allow dissecting our backyard laboratory, the Galaxy, even further.
ESO survey telescopes about to become operational and the upcoming ESA Gaia
mission are a guarantee for opening new horizons and making new discoveries.
We, the astronomers, with the support of our funding agencies, are ready to fully
commit to the best exploitation of the treasure that is ahead of us. The main
recommendations this Working Group has made to ESA and ESO are to guarantee
the expected tremendous capabilities of these new facilities, to vigourously organise
their synergies and to jointly give ways to European astronomers to be leaders in
the exploitation of their output data.
To request a printed copy, please contact
Britt Sjoeberg (bsjoeber@eso.org).
Maintained by Martin Kümmel <mkuemmel@eso.org>
