We study the process of panspermia in Milky Way–like galaxies by modeling probability successful travel organic compounds between stars harboring potentially habitable planets. To this end, we apply modified habitability recipe Gobat & Hong to a model galaxy from McMaster Unbiased Galaxy Simulations suite zoom-in cosmological simulations. find that, unlike habitability, which only occupies narr...

Our Milky Way Galaxy is a typical large spiral galaxy, representative of the most common morphological type in the local Universe. We can determine the properties of individual stars in unusual detail, and use the characteristics of the stellar populations of the Galaxy as templates in understanding more distant galaxies. The star formation history and merging history of the Galaxy is written i...

The Milky Way is the only galaxy for which we can resolve individual stars at all evolutionary phases, from the Galactic center to the outskirt. The last decade, thanks to the advent of near IR detectors and 8 meter class telescopes, has seen a great progress in the understanding of the Milky Way central region: the bulge. Here we review the most recent results regarding the bulge structure, ag...