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A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound
together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a
reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System.
Our view of the structure of stars and gas in galaxies has greatly improved over the last few
decades with the exquisite images provided by our modern space- and ground-based
observatories. The galaxy is the nearest, hence most extensively observed galaxy in detail, however,
the special position of the observers located inside the object always poses difficulty in knowing the
three-dimensional structure. This difficulty, in turn, forced astronomers to develop sophisticated
techniques of observation and analysis. The difficulty is overcome by observing a galaxy from
outside, which is in fact extensively done for external galaxies.

At the end of the session/s, you should be able to:

a. Describe a galaxy.
b. Give the Hubble classification of galaxies.
c. Discuss the properties, galactic structure and
historical breakthroughs in galaxy research.

GALAXY

 A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems, all held
together by gravity.
 A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems. A
galaxy is held together by gravity. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, also has a supermassive black
hole in the middle.

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Most important historical breakthroughs in galaxy research
Around 1610: Galileo Galilei resolves the Milky Way into individual stars
Around 1750: Immanuel Kant developes the idea of “island universes” – different galaxies just
like our own.
Around 1850: William Parsons discovers spiral structure and proposes that some galaxies
rotate
1923/24: Edwin Hubble resolves M31 and M33 into individual stars – confirms that they are
galaxies just like our own.
1929: Edwin Hubble discoveres the expansion of the Universe 12
1933: Fritz Zwicky claims the existence of “dark matter” based on observed speeds of cluster
galaxies.
1970-1980: Vera Rubin’s work on rotation curves of spiral galaxies – dark matter idea becomes
widely accepted

Lord Rosse in 1845 “discovered” spiral structure in M51 (this is an HST image of M51)

 Lord Rosse performed astronomical studies and discovered the

spiral nature of some nebulas, today known to be spiral galaxies.
 Rosse's telescope Leviathan was the first to reveal the spiral
structure of M51, a galaxy nicknamed later as the "Whirlpool Galaxy", and
his drawings of it closely resemble modern photographs.
 Rosse named the Crab Nebula, based on an earlier drawing made
with his older 36-inch (91 cm) telescope in which it resembled a crab.
 A main component of Rosse's nebular research was his attempt to
resolve the nebular hypothesis, which posited that planets and stars were
formed by gravity acting on gaseous nebulae.

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HUBBLE’S MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
Broadly, galaxies can be divided into ellipticals, spirals, and irregulars
Broadly, spirals are divided into normal and barred (similar frequencies): S and SB
The subclassification (a, b, or c) refers both to the size of the nucleus and the tightness of the
spiral arms. For example, the nucleus of an Sc galaxy is smaller than in an Sa galaxy, and the
arms of the Sc are wrapped more loosely.
The number and how tightly the spiral arms are wound are well correlated with other, large
scale properties of the galaxies, such as the luminosity of the bulge relative to the disk and the
amount of gas in the galaxy.

PROPERTIES
What galaxy characteristics can we measure?
FLUX: can be done at different wavelengths, leads to colors (determined by flux ratios; “spiral
galaxies are blue, elliptical galaxies are red”)
LUMINOSITY: when distance is known, together with flux gives luminosity (related to absolute
magnitude, usually called M)
SIZE: angular, and when distance is known, true (linear) size
SHAPE of surface brightness profile: varies with galaxy type, but fairly constant for a give galaxy
type
NORMALIZATION OF THE SURFACE BRIGHTNESS PROFILE: fairly constant for a given galaxy

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 type, smaller spread than luminosity implies that the luminosity variation is mostly driven by
variation in linear size
KINEMATIC QUANTITIES: recession velocity (redshift), rotation velocity, velocity dispersion (must
obtain spectra!)
MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS: by observing at wavelengths other than optical, can
study dust, molecular gas, non-thermal radiation, derive star-formation rate, etc.

TYPES OF GALAXIES
A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars all held together by gravity. All galaxies
are made up of these same things. However, they come in many different shapes and sizes.

Here are a few types of galaxies:

SPIRAL GALAXIES look like giant pinwheels. The arms of the pinwheel
are made up of stars and lots of gas and dust. Gas and dust are some of
the main ingredients needed to form new stars. Young stars burn much
hotter than older stars, so spiral galaxies are often some of the brightest
in the universe. About 60% of nearby galaxies are spirals. Our home
galaxy, the Milky Way, is a very good example of one.

ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES are shaped like stretched-out circles, or

ellipses. Some elliptical galaxies are more stretched out than others. One
might look almost perfectly circular. Another one might look long and flat.
Elliptical galaxies contain mostly older stars. That means they often
aren't as bright as spiral galaxies. They also have very little dust and gas.
Elliptical galaxies are the largest and most common galaxies observed.
They make up about 20% of nearby galaxies.

IRREGULAR GALAXIES are just that: irregular. They don't have a

single common shape. Irregular galaxies are among the smallest
galaxies scientists have observed. However, they can also be very
bright. Like spiral galaxies, irregular galaxies are often filled with gas,
dust, and lots of bright young stars. About 20% of nearby galaxies are
irregular galaxies.
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 QUASARS are compact areas in the center of a galaxy. They give off
enormous amounts of energy. Quasars are actually some of the brightest
objects in the universe. There are no quasars near our Milky Way.

GALACTIC STRUCTURE

 Our galaxy is structured in ordered groups of gas, dust, old stars, young stars, and even a
black hole. Rather than being randomly distributed, each part of the galaxy has a distinct
location or home.
 Within our galaxy are clusters of stars. Some clusters contain older stars while others contain
young stars. Where they are tells us about the age and formation of our galaxy. Some parts of
the galaxy are densely populated while others are thinly populated.
 The core of our galaxy can be seen with
within
in the constellation Sagittarius. It may be more visible
during the summer or winter depending on the location on Earth.

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Hupp, E.; Roy, S.; Watzke, M. (August 12, 2006). "NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark
Matter". NASA. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2007.

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy

https://faculty.washington.edu/ivezic/Teaching/Astr102/lecture10.pdf

https://www.coursehero.com/study-guides/astronomy/properties-of-galaxies/

https://study.com/learn/lesson/galaxy-structure-types-components-galaxy.html