6. The Shapes of Galaxies
1) Many galaxies have no
disk, no spiral arms, and
almost no gas and dust.
These elliptical galaxies
range from huge giants to
small dwarfs.
7. 2) Disk-shaped galaxies usually have
spiral arms and contain gas and dust.
Many of these spiral galaxies have a
central region shaped like an
elongated bar and are called barred
spiral galaxies. A few disk
galaxies contain little gas and dust.
The Shapes of Galaxies
8. 3) Irregular galaxies
are generally shapeless
and tend to be rich in
gas and dust.
The Shapes of Galaxies
10. Distance
• The distances to galaxies are so large that it is not
convenient to measure them in light-years, parsecs, or even
kilo parsecs. Instead, astronomers use the unit
megaparsec (Mpc),or 1 million pc.
One Mpc = 3.26 million ly, or approximately
3x1019km pr(2x1019miles)
11. • Such objects are called distance indicators
because they can be used to find the distance to a
galaxy.
•Astronomers often refer to them as standard candles.
If you can find a standard candle in a galaxy, you can
judge its distance
Distance
12. astronomers Edwin
Hubble and Milton
Humason were able to
measure the distances to
a number of galaxies
using Cepheid variable
stars.
The Hubble Law
13. The Hubble Law
1929, they published a graph that plotted
the apparent velocity of recession versus
distance for their galaxies. The points in
the graph fell along a straight line
Vr = Hd
14. Diameter and Luminosity
Irregular galaxies tend
to be small, 1 to 25
percent the size of our
galaxy, and of low
luminosity.
Our Milky Way Galaxy is large
and luminous compared with
most spiral galaxies, though
astronomers know of a few
spiral galaxies that are even
larger and more luminous.
The results of such observations show that galaxies differ dramatically in size
and luminosity
Elliptical galaxies
cover a wide range of
diameters and
luminosities
The largest, called giant ellipticals,
are five times the size of our Milky Way
15. Mass
•Using such a graph to find
the mass of the galaxy is
called the rotation curve
method.
•It is the most accurate way to
find the mass, but it works
only for the nearer galaxies,
whose rotation curves can be
observed.
16. Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies
To hold stars in such small, short period orbits, the
centers of galaxies must contain millions or even
billions of solar masses in a very small region.
• The evidence shows that the nuclei of many
galaxies contain supermassive black
holes. The Milky Way contains a supermassive
black hole at its center, and evidently that is
typical of galaxies.
17. Dark Matter in Galaxies
• X-ray images of galaxy clusters
show that many of them are
filled with very hot, low-density
gas. The amount of gas present
is much too small to account for
the dark matter. Rather, the gas
is important because it is very
hot and its rapidly moving atoms
have not leaked away
Gravitational lensing
occurs when light from a
distant object passes a
nearby massive object
and is deflected by the
gravitational field.
18. Theorists conclude that …….
Dark matter must be made up of some as yet undiscovered
subatomic particles that do not interact with normal matter, with
each other, or with light.
Dark matter is detectable only through its gravitational field.
Dark matter is not an insignificant cant issue.
Dark Matter in Galaxies
Dark matter is independent of Newton’s laws and gives astronomers great
confidence that dark matter is real
20. Cluster of Galaxies
•Rich clusters
contain a thousand or
more galaxies, mostly
ellipticals, scattered
through a volume
roughly 3 Mpc (107ly) in
diameter.
21. •Poor clusters contain fewer than
a thousand (and often only a few)
galaxies spread through a region that
can be as large as a rich cluster. That
means the galaxies are more widely
separated.
Cluster of Galaxies
22. Our Milky Way Galaxy is a member of a poor cluster
known by the unimaginative name of the Local Group
Cluster of Galaxies
The total number of galaxies in
the Local Group is uncertain,
but it probably contains about 40
galaxies scattered irregularly
through a volume roughly 1 Mpc
in diameter
24. Interacting Galaxies
Interacting galaxies can distort each other with tides producing tidal tail sand
shells of stars. They may even trigger the formation of spiral arms. In fact, large
galaxies can even absorb smaller galaxies, a process called galactic
cannibalism.
Interactions between galaxies can trigger rapid star formation
Evidence left inside galaxies in the form of motions and multiple nuclei reveals
that they have suffered past interactions and mergers.
the beautiful ring galaxies are understood to be bull’s-eyes left behind by high-
speed collisions
Colliding Galaxies
25. Assembling Galaxies
This process of galaxy assembly is still occurring today - we
see many examples of galaxies colliding and merging to
form new galaxies.
Many billions of years from now! Scientists today know that
galaxies existed about one billion years after the Big Bang.
While most of these early galaxies were smaller and more
irregular than present-day galaxies, some are very similar to
those seen nearby today.
28. #History101
In 1950s, astronomers discovered that some galaxies, dubbed radio
galaxies , were bright at radio wavelengths. Later, when telescopes
went into orbit, these galaxies were found to be emitting energy at
other wavelengths as well, and they became known as active
galaxies . Modern observations show that the energy comes from
the nuclei of the galaxies, which are now known as active galactic
nuclei (AGN)
29. Seyfert Galaxies
Observing at visual wavelengths,
Seyfert found that some spiral
galaxies have small, highly luminous
nuclei with peculiar spectra .These
galaxies are now known as
Seyfert galaxies
30. Double-Lobed Radio Sources
• When optical telescopes studied
the locations of these radio
sources, they revealed galaxies
located between the two regions
emitting radio energy, and the
galaxies were dubbed double-
lobed radio galaxies.
31. Quasars
First called quasistellar objects,
they were soon referred to as
quasars because the signals
came from one place, like a star
Most quasars have been found billions of light-years away
33. Disks and Jets
Matter flowing inward toward a
black hole spins very fast and
becomes very hot. It spins
because it must conserve angular
momentum as it sinks inward
where it forms a flattened disk
around
The inner part of the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole
can reach temperatures of millions of degrees and emit X-rays.
34. The Search for a Unified Model
Astronomers studying
active galaxies have
developed a unified
model of active galaxy
cores that is well
supported by evidence.
A monster black hole is
the centerpiece
36. Triggering Eruptions
A sudden flood of matter flowing into the
accretion disk around a supermassive
black hole would trigger it into eruption
37. Supermassive Black Holes Through Time
•supermassive black holes always make up the same small
percentage (0.5 percent) of the mass of their central bulge,
astronomers conclude that the supermassive black holes
formed at the same time
•Most of the quasars and active galaxies that astronomers see
with today’s telescopes have been triggered into eruption by
the interaction and collision of galaxies, a process that throws
matter into the central black holes
38. In a Nutshell
Astronomy is changing you. As you learn more about
stars and galaxies and quasars, you are learning more
about yourself and your connection with nature.
“Perspective” can mean a view of things in their true
relationships. As you study astronomy, you are gaining
perspective. Our galaxy, our sun, our planet, and the
local shopping mall take on new meaning when you
think astronomically.
39. References
• Universe (Solar systems, Stars, and Galaxies) 7th Edition by Seeds and
Backman
• http://www.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/hubbles_l
aw.htm
• https://jwst.nasa.gov/galaxies.html
• http://www.space.com/17262-quasar-definition.html
This chapter will expand your horizon to discuss the different kinds of galaxies, their complex histories, and violent eruptions.
(intro)Astronomers classify galaxies according to their shapes in photographs
made at visual wavelengths using a system developed by Edwin
Hubble in the 1920s.
>Elliptical galaxies are round or elliptical, contain no visible
gas and dust, and lack hot, bright stars. They are classified
with a numerical index ranging from 1 to 7; E0s are round, and E7s
are highly elliptical. The index is calculated from the largest and
smallest diameter of the galaxy used in the following formula and
rounded to the nearest integer.
>Spiral galaxies contain a disk and spiral arms. Their halo stars
are not visible, but presumably all spiral galaxies have halos. Spirals
contain gas and dust and hot, bright O and B stars, as shown at right and
below. The presence of short-lived O and B stars alerts us that star
formation is occurring in these galaxies. Sa galaxies have larger nuclei,
less gas and dust, and fewer hot, bright stars. Sc galaxies have small
nuclei, lots of gas and dust, and many hot, bright stars. Sb galaxies are
Intermediate
>Roughly 2/3 of all spiral galaxies are barred spiral galaxies
classified SBa, SBb, and SBc. They have an elongated nucleus with spiral arms springing from the ends of the
bar, as shown at left. Our own galaxy is a barred spiral.
>Irregular galaxies(classified Irr) are a chaotic mix of gas, dust, and
stars with no obvious nuclear bulge or spiral arms. The Large and Small
Magellanic Clouds are visible to the unaided eye as hazy patches in the
southern hemisphere sky. Telescopic images show that they are irregular
galaxies that are interacting gravitationally with our own much larger galaxy.
Star formation is dramatic in the Magellanic Clouds. The bright pink regions
are emission nebulae excited by newborn O and B stars. The brightest
nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is called the Tarantula Nebula
the first step in your study of galaxies is to find out how far away they are. Once you know a galaxy’s distance, its size and luminosity are relatively easy to find. Later in this section, you will see that, just as for stars, finding
the masses of galaxies is more difficult
To find the distance to a galaxy, astronomers must search
among its stars, nebulae, and star clusters for familiar objects
whose luminosity they know.
>When you look at a distant galaxy, you look back into the past by an
amount called the look-back time, a time in years equal to the
distance in light-years the light from the galaxy traveled to reach
Earth.
Although astronomers must work carefully to measure the distance to a galaxy, they often estimate such distances using a simple relationship that was first noticed at about the same time astronomers were beginning to understand the nature of galaxies.
>In 1929, Hubble estimated the value of the expansion factor, now called the Hubble constant, to be about 500 km/sec/Mpc. Today the value is still rather uncertain, but is generally believed to be in the range of 45-90 km/sec/Mpc.
Once you find the distance to a galaxy from distance indicators or the Hubble law, you can calculate its diameter and its luminosity.
With a good telescope and the right equipment, you could easily photograph a galaxy and measure its angular diameter in arc seconds. If you knew the distance, you could use the small-angle formula to find its linear diameter.
Although the mass of a galaxy is difficult to determine, it is an important quantity. It tells you how much matter the galaxy contains, which in turn provides clues to the galaxy’s origin and evolution.
>If astronomers can measure the radius of a galaxy and the velocity with which it rotates, they can easily find the orbital periods of the stars as they orbit the galaxy. Then they can use Newton’s version of
>More distant galaxies appear so small astronomers cannot measure the radial velocity at different points across the galaxy. Kepler’s third law
Rotation curves show the motions of the outer parts of a galaxy, but it is also possible to detect the Doppler shifts of stars orbiting very close to the centers. Although these motions are not usually shown on rotation curves, they reveal something astonishing.
A billion-solar-mass black hole sounds like a lot of mass, but note that it is roughly 1 percent of the mass
of a galaxy. The 4-million-solar-mass black hole at the enter of the Milky Way Galaxy contains only one thousandth of 1 percent of the mass of our galaxy. Later in this chapter you will discover that these supermassive black holes can produce titanic eruptions, but they still represent only a small fraction of the mass of a galaxy.
Given the size and luminosity of a galaxy, astronomers can make a rough guess as to the amount of matter it
should contain. They know how much light stars produce, and they know about how much matter there is
between the stars, so it is quite possible to estimate the mass of a galaxy from its luminosity.
>Gravitational lensing occurs when light from a distant object passes a nearby massive object and is deflected by the gravitational field. The gravitational field of the nearby object is actually a region of curved space-time that acts as a lens and deflects the passing legitimate the mass of a galaxy from its luminosity
Single, isolated galaxies are rare. Instead, most galaxies occur in clusters containing a few to a few thousand galaxies in volumes 1 to 10 Mpc across. Our Milky Way Galaxy is a member of a small cluster, and surveys have cataloged thousands of other cluster
>Such a cluster is nearly always condensed; that is, the galaxies are more crowded near the cluster center. At their centers, such clusters often contain one or more giant elliptical galaxies
s.
Th e total number of galaxies in the Local Group is uncertain
because some galaxies lie in the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy
and are diffi cult to detect.
The galaxy classes tell you something important, but a single galaxy does not change from one class to
another any more than a cat can change into a dog.Another old idea was that each galaxy formed from a single
cloud of gas that contracted and formed stars. Astronomers call such a proposal a top-down theory.
In spite of their small size, the cores of Seyfert galaxies produce tremendous amounts of energy.
The brightest emit a hundred times more energy than the entire Milky Way Galaxy
Unlike Seyfert galaxies, which
emit intense radiation from their cores, these radio galaxies were
producing energy from two external radio lobes
>Many radio sources consist of two bright lobes —
double-lobed radio sources — with a galaxy, often a
peculiar or distorted galaxy, located between them. Evidence
suggests these active galaxies are emitting jets of high-speed
gas that inflate the lobes as cavities in the intergalactic
medium. This has been called the double-exhaust
model. Where the jets impact the far side of the
cavities, they create hot spots.
>Radio galaxy NGC 5128 lies between two
radio lobes, and, like many active galaxies, is
strangely distorted. The dust ring rotates about an
axis perpendicular to the ring, but the spherical
cloud of stars rotates about an axis that lies in the
plane of the ring. NGC 5128 appears to be two
galaxies, a giant elliptical and a spiral, passing
through each other. This has triggered multiple
eruptions. An earlier eruption has produced a
large outer pair of lobes, and a more recent
eruption has produced an inner pair.
Through the 1950s, radio astronomers became familiar with celestial radio sources that were either huge clouds of gas or distant radio galaxies, so they were surprised in the early 1960s when some radio sources turned out to look like stars in visual wavelength photographs
>Quasars are part of a class of objects known as active galactic nuclei (AGN). Other classes include Seyfert galaxies and blazars. All three require supermassive black holes to power them.
No one knows exactly how the supermassive black hole and
its disk produce jets of gas and radiation, but magnetic fi elds are
a factor. Because the disk is at least partially ionized, magnetic
fields are trapped in the gas of the disk, drawn inward, and
wound up. Th eorists suggest that this creates powerful magnetic
tubes extending along the axis of rotation, channeling hot gas
outward in opposite directions. Th e jets seem to originate very
close to the supermassive black hole and are then focused and
confined by the enclosing magnetic tubes
When a field of research is young, scientists find many seemingly different phenomena, such as Seyfert galaxies, double
lobed radio galaxies, quasars, cosmic jets, and so on.
>According to the unifi ed model, what you see when you
view the core of an active galaxy depends on how the black
hole’s accretion disk is tipped with respect to your line of sight
Th is explains why active
galaxies are often distorted; they have been
twisted by tidal forces as they interacted or
merged with another galaxy. Some active galaxies have nearby
companions, and you can suspect that the companions are guilty
of tidally distorting the other galaxy and triggering an eruption.
Images of some quasars reveal that they are embedded in galaxies
that are distorted and lie near other distorted galaxie
Some of the most distant quasars could be caused by the formation of supermassive black holes, but these extremely distant objects are difficult to image with existing telescope