galaxy
What is a galaxy?
Are all galaxies the same shape?
What are the types of galaxies?
What is an example of a Sa galaxy?
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galaxy, any of the systems of stars and interstellar matter that make up the universe. Many such assemblages are so enormous that they contain hundreds of billions of stars.
Nature has provided an immensely varied array of galaxies, ranging from faint, diffuse dwarf objects to brilliant spiral-shaped giants. Virtually all galaxies appear to have been formed soon after the universe began, and they pervade space, even into the depths of the farthest reaches penetrated by powerful modern telescopes. Galaxies usually exist in clusters, some of which in turn are grouped into larger clusters that measure hundreds of millions of light-years across. (A light-year is the distance traversed by light in one year, traveling at a velocity of 300,000 km per second [km/sec], or 650,000,000 miles per hour.) These so-called superclusters are separated by nearly empty voids, and this causes the gross structure of the universe to look somewhat like a network of sheets and chains of galaxies.
Galaxies differ from one another in shape, with variations resulting from the way in which the systems were formed and subsequently evolved. Galaxies are extremely varied not only in structure but also in the amount of activity observed. Some are the sites of vigorous star formation, with its attendant glowing gas and clouds of dust and molecular complexes. Others, by contrast, are quiescent, having long ago ceased to form new stars. Perhaps the most conspicuous activity in galaxies occurs in their nuclei, where evidence suggests that in many cases supermassive objects—probably black holes—lurk. These central black holes apparently formed several billion years ago; they are now observed forming in galaxies at large distances (and, therefore, because of the time it takes light to travel to Earth, at times in the far distant past) as brilliant objects called quasars.
The existence of galaxies was not recognized until the early 20th century. Since then, however, galaxies have become one of the focal points of astronomical investigation. The notable developments and achievements in the study of galaxies are surveyed here. Included in the discussion are the external galaxies (i.e., those lying outside the Milky Way Galaxy, the local galaxy to which the Sun and Earth belong), their distribution in clusters and superclusters, and the evolution of galaxies and quasars. For further details on the Milky Way Galaxy, see Milky Way Galaxy. For specifics about the components of galaxies, see star and nebula.
Historical survey of the study of galaxies
Early observations and conceptions
The dispute over the nature of what were once termed spiral nebulae stands as one of the most significant in the development of astronomy. On this dispute hinged the question of the magnitude of the universe: were we confined to a single, limited stellar system that lay embedded alone in empty space, or was our Milky Way Galaxy just one of millions of galaxies that pervaded space, stretching beyond the vast distances probed by our most powerful telescopes? How this question arose, and how it was resolved, is an important element in the development of our prevailing view of the universe.
Up until 1925, spiral nebulae and their related forms had uncertain status. Some scientists, notably Heber D. Curtis of the United States and Knut Lundmark of Sweden, argued that they might be remote aggregates of stars similar in size to the Milky Way Galaxy. Centuries earlier the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, among others, had suggested much the same idea, but that was long before the tools were available to actually measure distances and thus prove it. During the early 1920s astronomers were divided. Although some deduced that spiral nebulae were actually extragalactic star systems, there was evidence that convinced many that such nebulae were local clouds of material, possibly new solar systems in the process of forming.
The problem of the Magellanic Clouds
It is now known that the nearest external galaxies are the Magellanic Clouds, two patchy irregular objects visible in the skies of the Southern Hemisphere. For years, most experts who regarded the Magellanic Clouds as portions of the Milky Way Galaxy system separated from the main stream could not study them because of their position. (Both Magellanic Clouds are too far south to be seen from most northern latitudes.) Moreover, the irregular shapes of the objects and their numerous hot blue stars, star clusters, and gas clouds did indeed make them resemble the southern Milky Way Galaxy.
The American astronomer Harlow Shapley, noted for his far-reaching work on the size and structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, was one of the first to appreciate the importance of the Magellanic Clouds in terms of the nature of spiral nebulae. To gauge the distance of the Clouds, he made use of the period-luminosity (P-L) relation discovered by Henrietta Leavitt of the Harvard College Observatory. In 1912 Leavitt had found that there was a close correlation between the periods of pulsation (variations in light) and the luminosities (intrinsic, or absolute, brightnesses) of a class of stars called Cepheid variables in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Leavitt’s discovery, however, was of little practical value until Shapley worked out a calibration of the absolute brightnesses of pulsating stars closely analogous to the Cepheids, the so-called RR Lyrae variables. With this quantified form of the P-L relation, he was able to calculate the distances to the Magellanic Clouds, determining that they were about 75,000 light-years from Earth. The significance of the Clouds, however, continued to elude scientists of the time. For them, these objects still seemed to be anomalous, irregular patches of the Milky Way Galaxy, farther away than initially thought but not sufficient to settle the question of the nature of the universe.