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case western reserve university

ASTRONOMY

 
 

7-D mapping of the Milky Way with SDSS

Mario Juric (IAS)

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is currently the largest dataset of main sequence stars with accurate multi-band photometry and astrometry, allowing us for the first time to directly map the number density, kinematics, and metallicity distributions of stars over a representative portion of the Galaxy. These maps have enabled us to assess the global properties of the Milky Way, identify infalling satellites and tidally disrupted remnants, study the structure and origin of Galactic components, and work towards building a self-consistent dynamical model of the Galaxy.

In this colloquium, I will review the methods and results of mapping the Milky Way with SDSS, focusing on most recent number density and metallicity results and future prospects. The methodology and tools developed for SDSS and presented in this talk will be directly applicable to upcoming wide-field surveys such as SkyMapper, PanSTARRS and LSST, allowing for similar studies to distances of ~150kpc and beyond.