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Science 7 January 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5450, pp. 79 - 84
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5450.79
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Review

The Baryon Halo of the Milky Way: A Fossil Record of Its Formation

Joss Bland-Hawthorn, 1 Ken Freeman 2

Astronomers believe that the baryon (stellar) halo of the Milky Way retains a fossil imprint of how it was formed. But a vast literature shows that the struggle to interpret the observations within a consistent framework continues. The evidence indicates that the halo has built up through a process of accretion and merging over billions of years, which is still going on at a low level. Future satellite missions to derive three-dimensional space motions and heavy element (metal) abundances for a billion stars will disentangle the existing web and elucidate how galaxies like our own came into existence.

1 Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia.
2 Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Private Bag, Weston Creek ACT 2611, Australia.
To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: jbh{at}aaoepp.aao.gov.au

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Formation and Early Evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy.
R. Buser (2000)
Science 287, 69-74
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)