The Galactic bulge

Abstract

The Galactic bulge is an interesting and complex structure that, to be disentangled, needs photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric observations of bulge field and globular cluster stars, as well as dynamical calculations. The progress in these directions in the last years is allowing us to better decipher the early formation and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. In the present text we describe in general lines the different aspects of studies on the formation of the bulge, the age and metallicity of stars and globular clusters, effects of the bar and finally available abundances and their chemical evolution.