The Milky Way and Beyond (37 page)

Except for such early-type galaxies as S0, SB0, Sa, and SBa systems, spirals and irregulars have a flat component of stars that emits most of their brightness. The disk component has a thickness that is approximately one-fifth its diameter (this varies, depending on the type of stars being considered). The stars show a radial distribution that obeys an exponential decrease outward; i.e., the brightness obeys a formula of the form

log
I
= −
kr
,

where
I
is the surface brightness,
r
is the distance from the centre, and
k
is a scaling constant. This constant is dependent both on the type of the galaxy and on its intrinsic luminosity. The steepness of the outward slope is greatest for the early Hubble types (Sa and SBa) and for the least-luminous galaxies.

The structure of the arms of spiral galaxies depends on the galaxy type, and there is also a great deal of variability within each type. Generally, the early Hubble types have smooth, indistinct spiral arms with small pitch angles. The later types have more-open arms (larger pitch angles). Within a given type there can be found galaxies that have extensive arms (extending around the centre for two or more complete rotations) and those that have a chaotic arm structure made up of many short fragments that extend only 20° or 30° around the centre. All spiral arms fit reasonably well to a logarithmic spiral of the form described in chapter 1, The Milky Way Galaxy.

If one were to look at galaxies at wavelengths that show only neutral hydrogen gas, they would look rather different from their optical appearance. Normally the gas, as detected at radio wavelengths for neutral hydrogen atoms, is more widely spread out, with the size of the gas component often extending to twice the size of the optically visible image. Also, in some galaxies a hole exists in the centre of the system where almost no neutral hydrogen occurs. There is, however, enough molecular hydrogen to make up for the lack of atomic hydrogen. Molecular hydrogen is difficult to detect, but it is accompanied by other molecules, such as carbon monoxide, which can be observed at radio wavelengths.

Galaxies tend to cluster together, sometimes in small groups and sometimes in enormous complexes. Most galaxies have companions, either a few nearby objects or a large-scale cluster; isolated galaxies, in other words, are quite rare.

There are several different classification schemes for galaxy clusters, but the simplest is the most useful. This scheme divides clusters into three classes: groups, irregulars, and sphericals.

The groups class is composed of small compact groups of 10 to 50 galaxies of mixed types, spanning roughly five million light-years. An example of such an entity is the Local Group, which includes the Milky Way Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, the Andromeda Galaxy, and about 50 other systems, mostly of the dwarf variety.

Irregular clusters are large loosely structured assemblages of mixed galaxy types (mostly spirals and ellipticals), totaling perhaps 1,000 or more systems and extending out 10,000,000 to 50,000,000 light-years. The Virgo and Hercules clusters are representative of this class.

Spherical clusters are dense and consist almost exclusively of elliptical and S0 galaxies. They are enormous, having a linear diameter of up to 50,000,000 light-years. Spherical clusters may contain as many as 10,000 galaxies, which are concentrated toward the cluster centre.

Clusters of galaxies are found all over the sky. They are difficult to detect along the Milky Way, where high concentrations of the Galaxy's dust and gas obscure virtually everything at optical wavelengths. However, even there clusters can be found in a few galactic “windows,” random holes in the dust that permit optical observations.

The clusters are not evenly spaced in the sky; instead, they are arranged in a way that suggests a certain amount of organization. Clusters are frequently associated with other clusters, forming giant superclusters. These superclusters typically consist of 3 to 10 clusters and span as many as 200 million light-years. There also are immense areas between clusters that are fairly empty, forming voids. Large-scale surveys made in the 1980s of the radial velocities of galaxies revealed an even-larger kind of structure. It was discovered that galaxies and galaxy clusters tend to fall in position along large planes and curves, almost like giant walls, with relatively empty spaces between them. A related large-scale structure was found to exist where there occur departures from the velocity-distance relation in certain directions, indicating that the otherwise uniform expansion is being perturbed by large concentrations of mass. One of these,
discovered in 1988, has been dubbed “the Great Attractor.”

Galaxies in clusters exist in a part of the universe that is much denser than average, and the result is that they have several unusual features. In the inner parts of dense clusters there are very few, if any, normal spiral galaxies. This condition is probably the result of fairly frequent collisions between the closely packed galaxies, as such violent interactions tend to sweep out the interstellar gas, leaving behind only the spherical component and a gasless disk. What remains is in effect an S0 galaxy.

A second and related effect of galaxy interactions is the presence of gas-poor spiral systems at the centres of large irregular clusters. A significant number of the members of such clusters have anomalously small amounts of neutral hydrogen, and their gas components are smaller on average than those for more isolated galaxies. This is thought to be the result of frequent distant encounters between such galaxies involving the disruption of their outer parts.

A third effect of the dense cluster environment is the presence in some clusters—usually rather small dense clusters—of an unusual type of galaxy called a cD galaxy. These objects are somewhat similar in structure to S0 galaxies, but they are considerably larger, having envelopes that extend out to radii as large as one million light-years. Many of them have multiple nuclei, and most are strong sources of radio waves. The most likely explanation for cD galaxies is that they are massive central galactic systems that have captured smaller cluster members because of their dominating gravitational fields and have absorbed the other galaxies into their own structures. Astronomers sometimes refer to this process as galactic cannibalism. In this sense, the outer extended disks of cD systems, as well as their multiple nuclei, represent the remains of past partly digested “meals.”

One more effect that can be traced to the cluster environment is the presence of strong radio and X-ray sources, which tend to occur in or near the centres of clusters of galaxies. These will be discussed in detail in the next section.

Some of the strongest radio sources in the sky are galaxies. Most of them have a peculiar morphology that is related to the cause of their radio radiation. Some are relatively isolated galaxies, but most galaxies that emit unusually large amounts of radio energy are found in large clusters.

The basic characteristics of radio galaxies and the variations that exist among
them can be made clear with two examples. The first is Centaurus A, a giant radio structure surrounding a bright, peculiar galaxy of remarkable morphology designated NGC 5128. It exemplifies a type of radio galaxy that consists of an optical galaxy located at the centre of an immensely larger two-lobed radio source. In the particular case of Centaurus A, the extent of the radio structure is so great that it is almost 100 times the size of the central galaxy, which is itself a giant galaxy. This radio structure includes, besides the pair of far-flung radio lobes, two other sets of radio sources: one that is approximately the size of the optical galaxy and that resembles the outer structure in shape, and a second that is an intense small source at the galaxy's nucleus. Optically, NGC 5128 appears as a giant elliptical galaxy with two notable characteristics: an unusual disk of dust and gas surrounding it and thin jets of interstellar gas and young stars radiating outward. The most plausible explanation for this whole array is that a series of energetic events in the nucleus of the galaxy expelled hot ionized gas from the centre at relativistic velocities (i.e., those at nearly the speed of light) in two opposite directions. These clouds of relativistic particles generate synchrotron radiation, which is detected at radio (and X-ray) wavelengths. In this model the very large structure is associated with an old event, while the inner lobes are the result of more-recent ejections. The centre is still active, as evidenced by the presence of the nuclear radio source.

The other notable example of a radio galaxy is Virgo A, a powerful radio source that corresponds to a bright elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster, designated as M87. In this type of radio galaxy, most of the radio radiation is emitted from an appreciably smaller area than in the case of Centaurus A. This area coincides in size with the optically visible object. Virgo A is not particularly unusual except for one peculiarity: it has a bright jet of gaseous material that appears to emanate from the nucleus of the galaxy, extending out approximately halfway to its faint outer parts. This gaseous jet can be detected at optical, radio, and other (e.g., X-ray) wavelengths; its spectrum suggests strongly that it shines by means of the synchrotron mechanism.

About the only condition that can account for the immense amounts of energy emitted by radio galaxies is the capture of material (interstellar gas and stars) by a supermassive object at their centre. Such an object would resemble the one thought to be in the nucleus of the Milky Way Galaxy but would be far more massive. In short, the most probable type of supermassive object for explaining the details of strong radio sources would be a black hole. Large amounts of energy can be released when material is captured by a black hole. An extremely hot high-density accretion disk is first formed around the supermassive object from the material, and then some of the material seems to be ejected explosively from the area, giving rise to the various radio jets and lobes observed.

Another kind of event that can result in an explosive eruption around a nuclear black hole involves cases of merging galaxies in which the nuclei of the galaxies “collide.” Because many, if not most, galaxy nuclei contain a black hole, such a collision can generate an immense amount of energy as the black holes merge.

Synchrotron radiation is characteristically emitted at virtually all wavelengths at almost the same intensity. A synchrotron source therefore ought to be detectable at optical and radio wavelengths, as well as at others (e.g., infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths). For radio galaxies this does seem to be the case, at least in circumstances where the radiation is not screened by absorbing material in the source or in intervening space.

X-rays are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere. Consequently, X-ray galaxies could not be detected until it became possible to place telescopes above the atmosphere, first with balloons and sounding rockets and later with orbiting observatories specially designed for X-ray studies. For example, the Einstein Observatory, which was in operation during the early 1980s, made a fairly complete search for X-ray sources across the sky and studied several of them in detail. Beginning in 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other orbiting X-ray observatories detected huge numbers of emitters. Many of the sources turned out to be distant galaxies and quasars, while others were relatively nearby objects, including neutron stars (extremely dense stars composed almost exclusively of neutrons) in the Milky Way Galaxy.

A substantial number of the X-ray galaxies so far detected are also well-known radio galaxies. Some X-ray sources, such as certain radio sources, are much too large to be individual galaxies but rather consist of a whole cluster of galaxies.

Some clusters of galaxies contain a widespread intergalactic cloud of hot gas that can be detected as a diffuse radio source or as a large-scale source of X-rays. The gaseous cloud has a low density but a very high temperature, having been heated by the motion of the cluster's galaxies through it and by the emission of high-energy particles from active galaxies within it.

The form of certain radio galaxies in clusters points rather strongly to the presence of intergalactic gas. These are the “head-tail” galaxies, systems that have a bright source accompanied by a tail or tails that appear swept back by their interaction with the cooler more stationary intergalactic gas. These tails are radio lobes of ejected gas whose shape has been distorted by collisions with the cluster medium.

An apparently new kind of radio source was discovered in the early 1960s when
radio astronomers identified a very small but powerful radio object designated 3C 48 with a stellar optical image. When they obtained the spectrum of the optical object, they found unexpected and at first unexplainable emission lines superimposed on a flat continuum. This object remained a mystery until another similar but optically brighter object, 3C 273, was examined in 1963. Investigators noticed that 3C 273 had a normal spectrum with the same emission lines as observed in radio galaxies, though greatly redshifted (i.e., the spectral lines are displaced to longer wavelengths), as by the Doppler effect. If the redshift were to be ascribed to velocity, however, it would imply an immense velocity of recession. In the case of 3C 48, the redshift had been so large as to shift familiar lines so far that they were not recognized. Many more such objects were found, and they came to be known as quasi-stellar radio sources, abbreviated as quasars.