Why is the galaxy spiral?
Why is the galaxy spiral?
Astronomers believe that galaxies have spiral arms because galaxies rotate – or spin around a central axis – and because of something called “density waves.” A spiral galaxy’s rotation, or spin, bends the waves into spirals. Stars pass through the wave as they orbit the galaxy center.
Does the Milky Way have spiral arms?
The Milky Way Galaxy is immense. It is 150,000 light-years in diameter. Our Solar System resides roughly 26,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. Our Milky Way galaxy has spiral arms, where stars are born from clouds of molecular gas and shine for billions of years.
Why do galaxies look flat?
Solar Systems/Galaxies are flat because of the rotation of the central mass (star in case of solar system, while a supermassive black hole in case of a galaxy) around its own axis. Because the sun rotates in a plane, the accretion disc was formed in the same plane, and the resultant planets formed in the same plane.
What is the average separation between spiral arms?
We show for a typical arm cross-cut, a separation of 400 pc between the mid-arm and the dust lane (at the inner edge of the arm, toward the Galactic center).
What are the four main parts of a spiral galaxy?
What are the four main parts of a spiral galaxy? A halo, bulge, dish, and arms.
Why is it rare to find blue stars outside spiral arms?
Either way, spiral arms contain many young, blue stars (due to the high mass density and the high rate of star formation), which make the arms so bright.
Why does an elliptical galaxy look like one giant star?
An elliptical galaxy looks as if it is a giant star because it lacks the distinctive structure of a spiral galaxy, where the bulge is surrounded by a…
Why can galaxies evolve from elliptical to spiral?
It is the huge mass of gas in a cluster of galaxies that can bend the light from a more distant galaxy. Elliptical galaxies form into spiral galaxies because it’s backwards evolution meaning, when a spiral galaxy merges with other spiral galaxies/irregular objects it forms an elliptical galaxy.
Why do elliptical galaxies appear red?
Furthermore, there is very little interstellar matter (neither gas nor dust), which results in low rates of star formation, few open star clusters, and few young stars; rather elliptical galaxies are dominated by old stellar populations, giving them red colors.
What are the most massive galaxies in the universe?
Elliptical and lenticular galaxies (collectively called Early-Type galaxies) are the oldest galaxies in the Universe. They are also the most massive galaxies in the Universe, reaching up to 100 times the mass of the Milky Way.
Do elliptical galaxies have dark matter?
Elliptical galaxies may very well have an additional baryonic dark component in the form of stellar remnants that may account for the variation with luminosity of the central mass-to-light ratio (Zepf & Silk 1996).
How many galaxies are they?
The best estimate from a 1999 study set that number at about 125 billion galaxies, and a 2013 study indicated that there are 225 billion galaxies in the observable universe. In 2016, that number was upped to 2 trillion, in large part because a new analysis included all the tiny, fluffy galaxies in the early universe.