The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) II: Uncovering the most metal-poor populations in the inner Milky Way

Understand

Metal-poor stars are important tools for tracing the early history of the Milky Way, and for learning about the first generations of stars.

• Simulations suggest that the oldest metal-poor stars are to be found in the inner Galaxy.
• Typical bulge surveys, however, lack low metallicity ([Fe/H] < -1.0) stars because the inner Galaxy is predominantly metal-rich.
• The aim of the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) is to study the metal-poor and very metal-poor (VMP, [Fe/H] < -2.0) stars in this region.