The influence of galactic bars is much greater than morphological classification

Bar morphologies are ubiquitous in the distribution of galaxies and have been the focus of many studies from galaxy classification to star formation. Yet, we are still uncovering ways that these seemingly straightforward features are impacting their host-galaxies on almost every physical and observational scale. With simulations of made-to-measure Milky Way-mass analogues from observed galaxies, we are able to consider the perspective of the face-on disk-plane, the edge-on vertical structure, as well as the kinematic and dynamical space. We can probe how the angle, size, age and formation mechanism of the bar may impact the observations we would make for any given galaxy. We are also able to move between scales, from probing bubble features in the ISM, to broadly smoothed large-scale structures such as radial and vertical metallicity gradients. This allows us to compare with all kinds of different observations of galaxies in a move toward a unified definition of what constitutes a galactic bar and how such bar features can impact both the host galaxy on a fundamental level, as well as our observations of these galaxies from any given perspective.