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• ZAH
• University of Heidelberg

The Milky Way and the Local Group -
Now and in the Gaia Era

August 31 to September 4, 2009
Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg

Scientific Rationale

Our Milky Way, M31, and the other galaxies of the Local Group allow us to study galaxy properties and evolutionary processes at a level of detail that is not accessible in more distant galaxies. This makes these nearby galaxies an indispensable laboratory for, e.g., testing cosmological scenarios, for conducting galactic archaeology, or for investigating currently ongoing processes such as star formation in unprecedented detail.

Tremendous progress has been made in these areas over the past few years. By observationally constraining the number, times, and masses of past merger events we can directly test the paradigm of galaxy formation. The number of known galaxies in the Local Group has essentially been doubled during the past decade. Detailed studies of the chemical abundances and element ratios in the various Milky Way components and in nearby galaxies are revealing how early star formation and chemical enrichment progressed. The kinematics of the various substructures and satellites tell us about the dynamical evolution and mass distribution, including dark matter content.



Several large surveys concentrating on the exploration of the Milky Way and its surroundings are currently being carried out, including the SDSS, RAVE, UKIDSS, and Pan-STARRS. Additional ground-based initiatives are being developed, e.g., VISTA, LAMOST, SSS, and LSST. High-resolution, multi-wavelength imaging from space has led to considerable progress in stellar age dating, in deriving star formation histories, mass functions, and dust and gas properties (e.g., through the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, AKARI, or GALEX). New instruments and missions are being planned or awaiting implementation (e.g., WISE, Herschel/Planck, Nano-JASMINE, or SIM). These observational advances are accompanied by significant progress in N-body, SPH, and chemodynamical modeling of galaxy formation and evolution.

The European Space Agency and the European astronomical community are preparing the cornerstone space mission Gaia that will commence in 2012. This astrometric satellite will provide high-precision phase-space information for about one billion stars in our Galaxy and its surroundings, along with the physical parameters and the chemical composition of many of these stars. Heidelberg astronomers are leading the German part of the preparation of this mission. Gaia will turn the coming decade into a golden age for Galactic astronomy and will revolutionize our understanding of the origin, evolution, structure, and dynamics of the Milky Way as a whole and of its components.

Our conference focuses on the substantial recent advances in our understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way and of the Local Group, both from the theoretical and observational point of view as well as in terms of new facilities and surveys. Special emphasis will be placed on the prospects of the forthcoming Gaia mission.