Image at http://hubblesite.

org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/spiral/2009/07/image/g/results/50/
Constantino, Analyn Omega, Shaina Nicole Tapic, Jackelyn R.
 The
“Discovery” of
Galaxies

At the beginning of the

20th century, what we
now call spiral galaxies
were referred to as “spiral
nebulae” and most
astronomers believed
them to be clouds of gas
and stars associated with
our own Milky Way.
The breakthrough came in
1924 when Edwin Hubble
was able to measure the
distance to the “Great
Nebula in Andromeda” and
found its distance to be
much larger than the
diameter of the Milky Way.
Galaxy Classification
- In 1924, Edwin
Hubble divided
galaxies into
different “classes”
based on their
appearance.
 Galaxies
A group of billions
of stars and their
planets, gas, and
dust that extends
over many
thousands of light-
years and forms a
unit within the
universe.
 GALAXIES,
GALAXIES,
GALAXIES!

Hubble categorized these

shapes or basic schemes
of galaxies:
1. Spiral
2. Elliptical (nearly
circular)
3. Irregular
 Spiral Galaxies
 Arms tightly wound around
galaxy, like a pinwheel
 A group of objects in center
(stars and possibly a black hole)
 Surrounded by a halo and an
invisible cloud of matter.
 Spiral Galaxies

 Rotating – which forms arms

 May lose arms and become elliptical

Examples: Milky Way and Andromeda

Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies
 Elliptical Galaxies

 Can be round, oval, flattened or spherical

 Resembles the nucleus of a spiral galaxy
without the arms
 Very little gas or dust
 Elliptical Galaxies

Mostly older stars

Collect into globular clusters

Examples: Maffei 1, M32

Elliptical Galaxies
 Irregular Galaxies

 Neither spiral or elliptical

 Disk, but no spiral arms
 Caused by the formation of new stars in the
galaxy or by the pull of neighboring
gravitational fields
 Irregular Galaxies

 In some irregular galaxies one can see

individual stars, nebulae, and clusters
 Mixture of old and new stars
 Large amounts of gas and dust
 Examples: Large and Small Magellanic
Clouds
Irregular Galaxies
 Barred Spiral
Galaxies

Spirals with bright

bar of gas down
center.
 Lenticular Galaxies

 Consists of bulge and disk with little or no

new star formation.
 Example: Spindle Galaxy
 Parts of a Galaxy – The Disk

 Contains clouds of gas and dust called

nebulae
 In a spiral galaxy, most stars are in the disk
 Open Cluster (Galactic Clusters) are
younger, asymmetric groups of stars.
 Parts of a Galaxy

 The galaxy is made up of two visible

components:
 1. Disk

 2. Bulge
 Parts of a Galaxy – The Disk

 An example of a galactic cluster is Pleiades

(M45)
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 A large squashed sphere surrounding the

galaxy’s center
 Contains older stars
 Not very much gas or dust
 One fifth of the total light comes from the
bulge
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 The bulge can be used to determine the age

of the galaxy
 Above and around the bulge are globular
clusters – hundreds of thousands of stars
bound in a tight spherical swarm
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 An example of a globular cluster is M13

(Hercules Globular Cluster)
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 Over 100 billion stars and possibly a black

hole in the center.
 Has star clusters, planets, glowing nebulae,
dust and empty space.
 Older stars and globular cluster near the
center
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 Younger stars and galactic clusters in disk

 One hundred thousand (100,000) light years
in diameter. Ten thousand (10,000) light
years thick
 Our solar system is located on the Orion
Arm – 30,000 light years from the center.
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 The Milky Way is getting larger because it

is “eating” the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its
stars are being added to the Milky Way.
 The Milky Way is falling toward the
Andromeda Galaxy and both are feeling the
tug of the great Virgo Cluster, which is 50
million light years away.