Munich Physics Colloquium Speaker Prof. Alyssa Goodman (Harvard) : "The NEW Milky Way"

Abstract: Thanks in large part to Gaia observations of the Milky Way and rapid advances in data science, it has very recently become possible to map out: 1) the three-dimensional internal structure and galactic arrangement of star-forming regions and 2) the positions and motions of young stars forming in those regions—also in 3D. These advances are painting a NEW picture of NEW (freshly-formed!) parts of the Milky Way.  The 3D, moving picture we can re-create from the data is giving hints as to the origins of oscillations in the Galaxy's arms (e.g. The Radcliffe Wave) as well as to the role of feedback (e.g. in the Local Bubble) from supernovae in driving the formation of dense gas, and ultimately stars.  The talk will focus primarily on science, while also including demonstrations of how data science and visualization tools, including glue, WorldWide Telescope and OpenSpace, have enabled these discoveries.