Galaxy

GALAXY
BY
ADARSH
VISHWAKARMA
CLASS= B.Sc. (1ST
YEAR) ROLL NO.= 103

A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars,
stellar remnants, interstellar gas and dust, and dark matter.[1][2]
The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας),
literally "milky", a reference to the Milky Way. Galaxies range in
size from dwarfs with just a few thousand (103
) stars to giants
with one hundred trillion (1014
) stars,[3]
each orbiting their
galaxy's own center of mass. Galaxies are categorized according
to their visual morphology, including elliptical,[4]spiral
, and irregular
.[5]
Many galaxies are thought to have black holes at their
active centers. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as
Sagittarius A*, has a mass four million times greater than our
own Sun.[6]
As of July 2015,EGSY8p7 is the oldest and most
distant galaxy with a light travel distance of 13.2 billion
light-years from Earth, and observed as it existed 570 million
years after the Big Bang. Previously, as of May 2015, EGS-zs8-1
was the most distant known galaxy, estimated to have a
light travel distance of 13.1 billion light-years away and to have
15% of the mass of the Milky Way.

The realization that we live in a galaxy, and that ours is one
among many, parallels major discoveries that were made
about the Milky Way and other nebulae in the night sky.
Milky Way
The Greek philosopher Democritus (450–370 BC) proposed that the
bright band on the night sky known as the Milky Way might consist of
distant stars.[19]
Aristotle(384–322 BC), however, believed the Milky Way
to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars that
were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes
place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the
region of the World that is continuous with the heavenly motions."[20]
The Neoplatonistphilosopher Olympiodorus the Younger (c.495–570
AD) was critical of this view, arguing that if the Milky Way is sublunary
(situated between Earth and the Moon) it should appear different at
different times and places on Earth, and that it should have parallax,
which it does not. In his view, the Milky Way is celestial.

Galaxies come in three main types: ellipticals, spirals,
and irregulars. A slightly more extensive description of
galaxy types based on their appearance is given by the
Hubble sequence. Since the Hubble sequence is
entirely based upon visual morphological type, it may
miss certain important characteristics of galaxies such
as star formation rate in starburst galaxies and activity
in the cores ofactive galaxies.

The Hubble classification system rates elliptical galaxies on
the basis of their ellipticity, ranging from E0, being nearly
spherical, up to E7, which is highly elongated. These galaxies
have an ellipsoidalprofile, giving them an elliptical
appearance regardless of the viewing angle. Their appearance
shows little structure and they typically have relatively little
interstellar matter. Consequently, these galaxies also have a
low portion of open clusters and a reduced rate of new star
formation. Instead they are dominated by generally older,
more evolved stars that are orbiting the common center of
gravity in random directions. The stars contain low
abundances of heavy elements because star formation ceases
after the initial burst. In this sense they have some similarity
to the much smaller globular clusters.

An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a
distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an
elliptical galaxy.[1]
The shape of an irregular galaxy is
uncommon – they do not fall into any of the regular
classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often
chaotic in appearance, with neither a nuclear bulge
nor any trace of spiral arm structure.[2]

Spiral galaxies resemble spiraling
pinwheels. Though the stars and other
visible material contained in such a galaxy
lie mostly on a plane, the majority of mass
in spiral galaxies exists in a roughly
spherical halo of dark matter that extends
beyond the visible component, as
demonstrated by the universal rotation
curve concept.

A majority of spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way
galaxy, have a linear, bar-shaped band of stars that extends
outward to either side of the core, then merges into the
spiral arm structure.[64]
In the Hubble classification scheme,
these are designated by an SB, followed by a lower-case letter
(a, b or c) that indicates the form of the spiral arms (in the
same manner as the categorization of normal spiral
galaxies). Bars are thought to be temporary structures that
can occur as a result of a density wave radiating outward
from the core, or else due to a tidal interaction with another
galaxy.[65]
Many barred spiral galaxies are active, possibly as
a result of gas being channeled into the core along the arms.

Peculiar galaxies are galactic formations
that develop unusual properties due to tidal
interactions with other galaxies. An
example of this is the ring galaxy, which
possesses a ring-like structure of stars and
interstellar medium surrounding a bare
core. A ring galaxy is thought to occur
when a smaller galaxy passes through the
core of a spiral galaxy.[70]
Such an event may
have affected the Andromeda Galaxy, as it
displays a multi-ring-like structure when
[

A lenticular galaxy is an intermediate form that has
properties of both elliptical and spiral galaxies. These
are categorized as Hubble type S0, and they possess
ill-defined spiral arms with an elliptical halo of
stars[72] (barred lenticular galaxies receive Hubble
classification SB0.)

Despite the prominence of large elliptical and
spiral galaxies, most galaxies in the Universe are
dwarf galaxies. These galaxies are relatively small
when compared with other galactic formations,
being about one hundredth the size of the Milky
Way, containing only a few billion stars. Ultra-
compact dwarf galaxies have recently been
discovered that are only 100 parsecs across.

A shell galaxy is a type of elliptical galaxy where the stars
in the galaxy's halo are arranged in concentric shells.
About 1/10 tenth of elliptical galaxies have a shell-like
structure, which has never been observed in spiral
galaxies. The shell-like structures are thought to develop
when a larger galaxy absorbs a smaller companion galaxy.
As the two galaxy centers approach, the centers start to
oscillate around a center point, the oscillation creates
gravitational ripples forming the shells of stars, similar to
ripples spreading on water. For example, galaxy NGC 3923
has over twenty shells.

A dark galaxy is a gas-rich galaxy
from the early Universe that is
inefficient at forming stars. Dark
galaxies receive their name
because they have no visible stars.

The Hubble sequence is a
morphological classification scheme for galaxies invented by
Edwin Hubble in 1926.[1][2][3][4]
It is often known colloquially as
the Hubble tuning fork diagram because of the shape in
which it is traditionally represented.
Tuning-fork style diagram of the Hubble sequence
Hubble’s scheme divides regular galaxies into 3 broad classes
- ellipticals, lenticulars and spirals - based on their visual
appearance (originally on photographic plates). A fourth class
contains galaxies with an irregular appearance. To this day, the
Hubble sequence is the most commonly used system for
classifying galaxies, both in professional astronomical research
and in amateur astronomy.

Galaxy

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