Galactic astronomy

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Galactic astronomy is the study of our own Milky Way galaxy and all its contents. This is in contrast to extragalactic astronomy, which is the study of everything outside our galaxy, including all other galaxies.

Galactic astronomy should not be confused with galaxy formation and evolution, which is the general study of galaxies, their formation, structure, components, dynamics, interactions, and the range of forms they take.

Our own Milky Way galaxy, where our solar system belongs, is in many ways the best studied galaxy, although important parts of it are obscured from view in visible wavelengths by regions of galactic dust. The development of radio astronomy and submillimeter astronomy in the 20th Century allowed the gas and dust of the Milky Way to be mapped for the first time.

1 Subcategories
2 Stellar populations
3 Interstellar medium
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Subcategories

A standard set of subcategories is used by astronomical journals to split up the subject of Galactic Astronomy:

abundances - the study of the location of elements heavier than helium
bulge - the study of the bulge around the center of the Milky Way
center - the study of the central region of the Milky Way
disk - the study of the Milky Way disk (the plane upon which most galactic objects are aligned)
evolution - the evolution of the Milky Way
formation - the formation of the Milky Way
fundamental parameters - the fundamental parameters of the Milky Way (mass, size etc)
globular clusters - globular clusters within the Milky Way
halo - the large halo around the Milky Way
kinematics and dynamics - the motions of stars and clusters
nucleus - the region around the black hole at the center of the Milky Way (Sagittarius A*)
open clusters and associations - open clusters and associations of stars
solar neighbourhood - nearby stars
stellar content - numbers and types of stars in the Milky Way
structure - the structure (spiral arms etc)