Galactic Archeology

銀河考古学とは，銀河を一つ一つの恒星に分離して観測を行い，各恒星の性質から銀河の形成進化を探査する分野です．これまでの銀河進化に関する研究は，1つの銀河全体を撮像し銀河全体の明るさや化学組成を測定することが主流でした．しかしHubble Space Telescope (HST)の登場を始めとする昨今の天文観測用装置のハード面での性能の向上，ソフト面での技術の発展により，近傍銀河を各恒星に分離しての観測が実現しました．我々はこの手法を用いて，局所銀河群に所属する天の川銀河や矮小銀河など，超近傍銀河の形成進化史の解明を目指しています．

Galactic Archaeology (GA) is a field of study of the evolution and formation of galaxies based on the properties of individual stars, which are observed by resolving galaxies into individual stars. Previous studies of galaxy evolution have mainly focused on imaging a single galaxy and measuring the brightness and chemical composition of the galaxy as a whole. However, with the advent of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and other advances in telescope hardware and software technology, it is now possible to separate nearby galaxies into their individual stars. Using this method, we study the formation and the evolution of nearby galaxies, such as the Milky Way and dwarf galaxies in the Local Group.