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TUESDAY, July 28, 2009, 3:30 PM, RLM 15.216B Galactic Bulges Reynier Peletier Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Abstract Apart from the exponential disk, the most conspicuous luminous component of a spiral galaxy is its central bulge. Although it is still often thought that the kinematics and stellar populations of bulges are similar to those of small elliptical galaxies, recent observations show that this is generally not the case. I will present the stellar contents and kinematics of SAURON and HST data of a sample of early and late-type spirals, and discuss the consequences for the formation of spiral galaxies, and galactic bulges in particular. I will also look at global correlations, such as the black hole vs. bulge mass relation, and discuss how the new observations change our views on them. |