Galaxy Classification

In 1924, Edwin Hubble

divided galaxies into different
“classes” based on their
appearance.

Why begin here?

•Hubble classification serves as the

basic language of the field.

•The morphological sequence reflects

a fundamental physical and
evolutionary sequence, which offers
important clues to galactic structure,
formation and evolution.
Hubble Tuning Fork diagram (Hubble 1936)

Ellipticals
Lenticular (S0)
Spiral and Barred Spiral
Irregular
Spiral Galaxies

•Disk + spiral arms + bulge (usually)

•Subtype a b c defined by 3 criteria:

•Bulge/disk luminosity ratio

•Sa: B/D>1 Sc: B/D<0.2
•Spiral pitch angle
•Sa: tightly wound arms Sc: loosely wound arms
•Degree of resolution into knots, HII regions, etc.
Barred Spiral Galaxies

•Contain a linear feature of nearly uniform brightness centered on nucleus

•Subclasses follow those of spirals with subtypes a b and c

Elliptical Galaxies

•Smooth structure and symmetric, elliptical contours

•Subtype E0 - E7 defined by flattening

•En where n = 10(a-b)/a

where a and b are the projected major and minor axes
(doesn’t tell what the 3-D shape is)
Lenticulars or S0 Galaxies

•Smooth, central brightness concentration (bulge similar to E)

surrounded by a large region of less steeply declining brightness
(similar to a disk)

•No spiral arm structure

•Originally thought to be transition objects between Sa and E but

typical S0 is 1-2 mags fainter than typical Sa, E (van den Bergh 1998)
Irregular Galaxies

NGC 4485-Irr II M82-Irr II Irr I

•No morphological symmetry

•Lots of young, blue stars and interstellar material

•Smaller than most spirals and elliptical galaxies

•Two major subtypes:

•Irr I: spiral-like but without defined arms, show bright knots with O,B stars
•Irr II: asymmetrical with dust lanes and gas filaments, often interacting
General trends within Hubble sequence E Sc:

• Decreasing Bulge/Disk
• Decreasing stellar age
• Increasing fractional gas content
• Increasing ongoing star formation

Limitations of the Hubble Classification Scheme

1. Only includes massive galaxies (doesn’t include dwarf

spheroidals, dwarf irregulars, blue compact dwarfs)

1. Three different parameters for classifying spirals is

unsatisfactory because the parameters are not perfectly
correlated.

1. Bars are not all-or-nothing. There is a continuum of bar

strengths.
de Vaucouleurs’ Revised Hubble Classification System
(de Vaucouleurs 1958, Handbuch der Phys. 53, 275)
(de Vaucouleurs2 1964, Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies)

Basic idea: retain Hubble system, but add lots of optional bells and whistles

•Mixed types: E/S0, Sab, Sbc

•Mixed barred/normal: SA (unbarred), SB (barred), SAB (in between)

•Inner rings: S(s) (arms out of ring), S(r) (arms in ring), S(rs)

•Outer rings: (R) S

•Extended spiral, irr types:Sm (between spiral and Irr), Im (magellanic),

Sd (extreme Sc), Sdm (between Sd and Im)

•“t-types” scale Added in later editions of the Reference Catalog

(de Vaucouleurs2, Corwin 1976)

E0  S0  Sa  Sb  Sc  Im
-5 -1 1 3 5 10 (t-type)
Schematic Diagram of Revised Hubble Classification

E E+ S0- S0 S0+ Sa Sb Sc Sd Sm Im Cross section of diagram

No Bar

Ring
Spiral shaped
shaped
Limitations:

•E  Im is not a linear sequence of one

parameter
•Rings and bars are not independent
•Does not take into consideration mass or other
important parameters. All based on optical
surface brightness morphology.
Bar
 Luminosity Classification or “DDO System” working at David Dunlop
van den Bergh (1960) - Observatory in Ontario,
Canada - hence the “DDO”

In spirals and irregular galaxies, some properties correlate with galaxy

mass rather than type. For spirals, the key parameter is arm
development (i.e. arm length, continuity and width relative to size)
Sc I - long, well-developed arms
Sc III - short, stubby arms
Sc IV - dwarf, spiral galaxy -faint hint of spiral structure

Revised DDO - van den Bergh (1976):

Placed disk galaxies into 3 parallel classes based on luminosity:

Gas-rich, anemics and lenticulars

Anemics have weak and diffuse spiral arms and low level of ongoing SF

Parameters which change systematically from Lenticular to Gas-rich

•Mean stellar age
•Gas fraction
•Recent SF
Yerkes System (Morgan 1958)

Strong correlation noted between the nuclear light concentration (how big the
bulge is) and its integrated spectrum. Type is based on this one parameter -
integrated spectral type.

•E, S0 K-type spectrum

•S F-K stars dominate
•Irr A stars dominate

Nomenclature:

gS2

Spectral type (dominant stars) Hubble type flattening

(i.e. bulge/disk) E - elliptical 10(a-b)
a, af, f, fg, g, gk, k D - S0 a
S - spiral
B - barred
I - Irregular
R - rotationally symmetric but no S or E
structure
Kennicutt (1992)

Galaxies shown in
order of increasing
Hubble type from
top to bottom.
A couple of galaxy classes not addressed in these systems….

Dwarf Ellipticals – dE
•much less luminous
than the normal
elliptical galaxy.
•Typically a few kpc
across and contain 1
million stars.

NGC 205

Dwarf Spheroidals – dSph

•overall low star density
•appear as a cluster of faint
stars.

The Sculptor system (Shapley

1938) was the first to be
discovered.
dSph are the low-luminosity
counterparts of dEs. Leo I dSph
Morphological Distributions

The morphological type of galaxy present depends to some extent on where

you look (more detailed discussion of this later…). Some key results:

•The Local Group includes a

significant number of very faint
galaxies. Of the ~35 galaxies,
only the 3 brightest (M31, MW
and M33) are spirals, the
remainder are equally divided
between irregular and dwarf
elliptical /spheroidal galaxies.

•Galaxies outside of clusters (in the “field”) are biased towards late-type (Sc)
spirals. A typical field sample might be 80% S galaxies, 10% S0 galaxies, and
10% E galaxies. Within rich clusters, the distribution is dominated by early-
type systems (Dressler 1980). An intermediate density cluster will have 40% S
galaxies, 40% S0 galaxies, and 20% E galaxies. A high density cluster will have
10% S, 50% S0, and 40% E.
Automated Classification

Visual classification is inherently time consuming and different observers are

unlikely to agree in ambiguous cases. This motivates the development of
algorithms to automatically and impartially classify galaxy images - very
important for large surveys like 2MASS and SDSS.

Abraham et al. (1994, 1996):

Concentration parameter C - fraction of light within ellipsoidal radius
0.3 x outer isophotal radius (1.5 above sky level).
Asymmetry parameter A - fraction of light in features not symmetric
wrt a 180 degree rotation

Naim, Ratnatunga & Griffiths (1997) use 4 parameters: blobbiness,

asymmetry, filling factor and elongation.

Naim et al. (1995) used artificial neural nets to classify galaxies into the
numerical T types. Achieved uncertainty of +/- 1.8 in T which is comparable
to the dispersion between observers.

For distant galaxies (greater than z=0.5), classification is difficult because of

small angular size and apparent faintness of galaxies. HST galaxies (z~1)
classified by 2 experts (Ellis and van den Bergh) and also using A and C
parameters of Abraham.
For faint galaxies, C parameter alone is fairly good.
For brighter galaxies, C is degenerate between E and S0.
Abraham et al. (1996)
 The Gini Coefficient and M20 parameter
Used in economics to measure distribution of wealth in population
G = relative distribution of flux in galaxy’s pixels (Abraham et al.
2003)

G=0 for completely egalitarian society (uniform surf brightness)

G=1 for absolute monarchy (all flux in single pixel)

Constant

2 x area= G

galaxy

M20 = 2nd order moment of the brightest 20% of the galaxy -

measures concentration
 Mergers
more light
in fewer pix

E/S0/Sa

Sb/Sbc

Lotz et al. 2005

more uniform
surface Sc/Sd/Irr
brightness centrally
less M20
concentrated concentrated
 gim2d bulge fraction B/T versus gim2d smoothness s2.

Judy Y. Cheng et al. MNRAS 2011;412:727-747

Using surface brightness fitting to classify ~1000 galaxies from SDSS

...but we haven’t seen the end of visual classification!

No matter how good the automated classifications become, the human eye is
still better at determining patterns than neural networks (e.g. detecting spiral
structure, smoothness)

Galaxy Zoo is a “citizen science” project started in 2007, employing volunteers

to classify galaxies imaged in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, HST, and other
galaxy survey projects.

Well over 250,000 people have participated in this project to visually classify
about a million galaxies. Each galaxy receives over 20 classifications and the
results are used together to determine the true classification.

Some results? go to http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Galaxy Groups
•More poorly clustered and containing fewer members than clusters
•Contain mostly disk systems – spirals and Irr
• e.g. Ursa Major group – of brightest 79 galaxies, only 2 are E’s
•Random velocities of galaxies are slower than cluster members
• σ = 700 – 1200 km/s for cluster galaxies
• σ = 100 – 500 km/s for group galaxies

 Thus, group galaxies affect each

other more than do cluster galaxies
– gravity has time to pull at gas and
stars

Stephan’s Quintet
•rare compact group
•109 Msun hot gas (Tx~107K)
•1010 Msun cool gas
•gas primarily intergalactic (galaxies are
mostly stripped of gas)
•gas heated to high temperatures due
to collisions
The Local Group
•about 35 – 40 galaxies within
~1.5 Mpc of MW
•brightest member – Andromeda
(M31)
•other spirals – MW and M33
•No bright ellipticals
• More than half are dE’s and
dSph’s
• Rest are irregulars
(Magellanic Clouds)
•Probably missing some objects
near the galactic plane
• e.g. Sagittarius dwarf
discovered in 1994 (Ibata,
Gilmore & Irwin 1995) Milky Way, Andromeda and M33 emit 90% of
•More than 90% of Local Group MWvisible light from the Local
& Andromeda Sb,Group!
Sbc, Sc
galaxies have Mv fainter than -18 moving toward Irr/dIrr
(3 x 109 Lsun) each other at 120 dSph
km/s dE
 Galaxy Clusters
 Half of all galaxies are in clusters (higher density; more Es and S0; more than
1014-1015M) or groups (less dense; more Sp and Irr; less than 10 14M)
 Clusters contain 100s to 1000s of gravitationally bound galaxies
 Typically ~few Mpc across
 Central Mpc contains 50 to 100 luminous galaxies (L > 2 x 10 10 L)
 Abell’s catalogs (1958; 1989) include 4073 rich clusters
 Both luminous Es and dEs more concentrated in clusters than mid-size Es (?)
 Nearest rich clusters are Virgo and
Fornax (containing 1000’s of galaxies;
d=15-20 Mpc)
 Richer cluster, Coma, at d=70 Mpc
and 7 Mpc across
 Clusters filled with hot gas (T=107 –
108K) X-ray bright – strips away cool
gas of infalling galaxies
 Gas mass to stellar mass is 1:1 to Cluster
Coma
10:1
Groups of galaxies are smaller than clusters
Contain less than ~100 galaxies
Loosely (but still gravitationally) bound
Contain more spirals and irregular galaxies than clusters

“The Local Group”

Are there structures larger than clusters? YES
Local Supercluster - 106 galaxies in 106 Mpc3

Redshift surveys (Vr = Ho x distance) of distant galaxies reveal the 3-d

large-scale structure in the Universe Galaxies appear to sit on 3-d
surfaces (e.g. bubbles, sponges)

Voids are ~50 h-1 Mpc across

Survey mag limit appears as galaxy

“thinning” beyond z=0.15

Local group moving at 600 km/s

relative CMB.

At these speeds, a galaxy would

This map reaches out to about 800 Mpc
take ~40 Gyr to travel from center
to edge of a void. Thus process to
remove material from voids took
place very early when Universe was
more compact…
Elliptical-like galaxies Star-forming galaxies (e.g. Spirals)

Ellipticals are more clustered than spiral galaxies – morphology-density relation

Compare large galaxy surveys with simulations designed to model the data.
Millennium Simulation (Croton et al. 2005)
Illustris (Vogelsberger et al. 2014; Genel et al. 2014)

Millenium simulation

 Assumes cold dark matter

dominates Universe (alternative
is hot dark matter – light particles like
neutrinos rather than heavier CDM
particles)

 N-body simulation with

particles interacting
gravitationally

 1010 particles mapped from

early times in the Universe to
the present in cube 500 h-1
Mpc on a side
 Galaxies

Dark Matter
 The simulations show that structure forms more along the lines
of the “bottom-up” model (i.e. galaxies form first), but that
these form in the already over-dense regions of the dark
matter distribution.

Redshift z=18.3 (t = 0.21 Gyr) Redshift z=1.4 (t = 4.7 Gyr)

Redshift z=5.7 (t = 1.0 Gyr) Redshift z=0 (t = 13.6 Gyr)

Galaxy Formation – Nature, Nurture, or merger?
Ellipticals are primarily found in the densest parts of a cluster
Odd because stars in Ellipticals are old (several billion yrs), while most clusters of
galaxies are not that old – still coming together (e.g. Millenium simulations)

As galaxy forms, how does it know if it will end up in inner or outer part cluster?
• maybe E’s are actually younger – stars formed earlier in smaller sub-galaxies
• then E’s form through mergers of sub-galaxies in “clumps”
• clusters grow by adding these clumps (like groups) where, we will discuss,
mergers occur more easily and could form the ellipticals.

If an elliptical formed from a single gas-cloud, how long would it take to make stars
and complete collapse? Can use tff – time that a gas cloud of a given density takes
to collapse under gravity  less than 0.1 Gyr  they can form quickly!

Then, how do E’s get dense, metal-rich centers?

• must be assembled from partly gaseous sub-galaxies
• some metal-enriched gas from first, biggest stars flows to center and makes
metal-rich stars. Also, gas conserved ang. mtm. and would make disky
isophotes.
How does life in the center of a cluster effect a galaxy?
•clusters form from agglomeration of smaller group/sub-clumps
•in sub-clumps – low relative velocities – mergers more likely
•stellar disk destroyed and E is formed
•other close encounters “fluff up” galaxy
 largest Es have lowest central SB and largest size
 Systems less disturbed would be less luminous, disky Es

But some evidence that many Es are NOT formed by mergers

Relations between luminosity, core size, central SB, color (i.e. Fundamental Plane)
Luminosity  from total stars and gas assembled over time
Color  from last episode of SF and metallicity
Why are they linked? Merging would have to take place on the same
timetable for all galaxies of a given luminosity…

Also, if largest Es are formed by multiple mergers, we would not expect to see
many in the early Universe – but luminous, red galaxies are common back to z~2
(Universe age of only 5 billion years).