The Milky Way Archaeology

Every day about tens of new papers emerge, which cover the chemical composition and motion parameters of the oldest stars in the Milky Way and the nearest dwarf galaxies; new stellar streams are discovered. These wealth of new papers are drawn by new data about coordinates, velocities, brightness and chemical composition of stars from the observations via Gaia spacecraft and Earth-bound spectral surveys. We present the most illustrative results, which help to imagine dynamical and chemical processes in our Galaxy and re-establish its chronology. To what extent can we go into past with the help of modern astronomy? How much does the most massive star “weigh”? What is Fimbulthul? Which subsystems does our Galaxy consist of? How are various chemical elements produced? What was our Galaxy like earlier and what will become of it in the future? The answers to these questions can be found in the paper.

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