Galactic Bulges: Proceedings of the 153th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Ghent, Belgium, August 1722, 1992 [Paperback]

In the early summer of '89 a very informal meeting on the bulge of our Galaxy was held in Leiden. During that meeting Michael Rich proposed to hold a more properly organised symposium on Galactic Bulges in a few years time. After some discussion a Scientific Organising Committee was founded and after some manoeuvring a chairman was chosen, a local organiser was assigned and two editors were given instructions. A good thing about the location of the meeting was that Ghent is a very beautiful city and had never before hosted an IAU symposium. It could be that this, plus the fact that he is a very keen amateur astronomer led H. M. the King of Belgium to offer his patronage to the meeting - an offer that we gratefully and - we hope - gracefully accepted. The meeting took place at a resort some 15 km outside Ghent. Most participants were housed on the premises - a very convenient situation. This feeling of togeth? erness made up for the small shortcomings of the lecture room, which is normally used as a sports hall. The weather was fair, except on the day of the barbecue when pouring rain forced us to go inside.Invited Reviews.- Review of the Galactic Bulge.- General Surveys of the Bulge in the Infrared.- Long-Period Variables and Carbon Stars in the Galactic Bulge.- OH/IR Stars as Tracers of Galactic populations.- Kinematics and Dynamics of OH/IR Stars.- Bulge K and M Giants.- The Globular Cluster and Horizontal Branch Content of the Bulge and Halo.- The Global Properties of Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Bulge.- Stellar Population Synthesis.- Formation and Evolution of Stars in Galactic Bulges.- The Stellar Population of the Inner 200 parsecs.- Dynamics of the Galactic Bulge.- Kinematics of Extragalactic Bulges: Evidence that Some Bulges are Really Disks.- Photometric Properties of Extragalactic Bulges.- What is the Connection between Ellipticals and Bulges?.- Summary: Achievements and Open Questions.- Contributed Papers.- 3-D Gas Dynamics in Triaxial Systems.- Dylc3