Galactic Origins: The Milky Way Globular Cluster - Halo Connection

Our international team draws together five prominent scientists to study a great unanswered question in modern astronomy: the origin of our Milky Way galaxy. Recent advances have unveiled surprising complexity in its ancient populations, opening a window of opportunity to unravel the intricacies of its formation 13 billion years ago. We shall use large-scale surveys and the world's most powerful telescopes to obtain unprecedented dynamical and chemical measurements of the Galaxy's halo stars and globular clusters -- its oldest components. The inter-relationship between stars and clusters, and the confrontation between data and current theoretical models will shed new light on our Galaxy's formation.