DATE | Lecture 20 |
TITLE | Other Galaxies |
READING | Chapter 16 |
MAIN CONCEPTS | Types of Galaxies, Properties of Galaxies, Clusters and Superclusters, Galaxy Collisions, Dark Matter |
There are 3 basic types of galaxies:
Spiral | Elliptical | Irregular | |
Mass (typical;range) solar masses | 1011 ; 109 - 1012 | 1011.5 ; 106 - 1013 | 1010 ; 108 - 1011 |
Size (pc) | 104- 105.5 | 104- 106 | 103- 104.5 |
Color | blue arms, red bulge | reddish | bluish |
Luminosity | 108 - 1010 | 105 - 1011 | 107 - 109 |
Stellar populations | Pop I, Pop II | Pop II | Pop I (Pop II) |
Interstellar medium | much | very little | still some |
Rotation | yes, disks | no | not a lot |
fractional occurence | 30% | 20% | 50% |
Here are a bunch of cool pictures of galaxies.
The different shapes of galaxies are thought to be due
to their formation processes. It appears that early on there are many protogalactic
clouds, with typical masses like dwarf galaxies today. If a number of them,
with net angular momentum, collapse together then one probably gets a spiral
galaxy. Globular clusters and the halo form early, and the rest of the
gas collapses to form the disk. Star formation stops early on in the halo,
but continues today in the disk. Collections of protogalaxies that are
gravitationally bound are common, leading to formation of a galaxy cluster.
As the new galaxies orbit in the cluster, they begin to collide. The collision
of 2 to several spiral galaxies (with perhaps some irregulars thrown in),
leads to the formation of an elliptical galaxy. During collisions the stars
all pass by each other, but gas clouds actually collide, leading to large
amounts of new star formation (a starburst). Thus, the gas tends to be
used up early on in ellipitcal galaxies, explaining why most of the stars
now there are old, and there is relatively little gas left. It is unclear
whether all ellipticals are formed through mergers of other galaxies, or
some are formed as they are to begin with. All the other protogalactic
clouds which don't make spirals or ellipticals just form irregular galaxies
on their own, or have not yet made a galaxy.
Here
is a simulation of the "impending" collision between us and the Andromeda
Galaxy...
Our Galaxy is not alone in our local
neighborhood of the Universe. It is gravitationally bound to many
other nearby galaxies, forming what we call the Local Group. There
are about 30 galaxies total in Local Group, which is analogous to a star
cluster in our own galaxy, where all the stars are gravitationally bound
to each other in a group. In the Local Group there are 2 massive
spiral galaxies, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) which about
2 million light years away.
The rest of the galaxies
in the Local Group are much smaller galaxies than the spirals and are called
dwarf galaxies.
(thanks to Cyberia/Cosmos for this image)
The Local Group is one example of a galaxy cluster, in which many many galaxies are gravitationally bound to each other and orbit one another. Typical clusters have sizes around several million light years across. Some rich clusters have 100s and 1000s of galaxies in them.
(thanks to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod for this image)
Not only do individual galaxies cluster together to form galaxy clusters, but clusters themselves cluster to form superclusters. Superclusters are typically 30 mega-parsecs, or about 100 million light years across. Superclusters have anywhere from a few to dozens of clusters of galaxies in them, and they group together to form large structures which extend great distances through the Universe. Maps showing the distribution of clusters in space show large voids, where no galaxies are seen, and very extensive shells and walls of clusters.
(thanks to http://www.astro.ku.dk for this image)