Spiral Structure in Galaxies

Spiral Structure in Galaxies

Author: Giuseppe Bertin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780262023962

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How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book presents a theory of spiral structure that has been developed over the past three decades under the continuous stimulus of new observational studies. The theory unfolds in a way that can be grasped by any reader with an undergraduate science background who is interested in astronomy, as well as by graduate students and scientists actively involved in astronomy or related subjects who want to see the "backbone" and the physical content of the theory. The foundations of this theoretical framework were laid in the early 1960s, following the pioneering work of B. Lindblad. C. C. Lin had already contributed significantly to the field of fluid mechanics when he turned his attention to spiral structures, and he has focused on the problem ever since. Giuseppe Bertin joined this research effort when he first visited at MIT in 1975, bringing to the project knowledge from his work on elliptical galaxies and plasma astrophysics. Together, Bertin and Lin have contributed to the exciting developments on spiral structure of the last few decades, working closely with many observers and other theorists. In this book they describe the density-wave theory with the goal of making the key concepts and astrophysical implications explicit and accessible. The essence of the solution Bertin and Lin present is that the spirals are wave rather than material phenomena and generally trace intrinsic characteristics of the individual galaxies. The book is in three parts--Physical Concepts, Observational Studies, and Dynamical Mechanisms--with most of the technical details confined to the last part.


The Spiral Structure of Our Galaxy

The Spiral Structure of Our Galaxy

Author: W. Becker

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 9401032750

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The idea of the organization of a Symposium on Spiral Structure came at a special meeting of Commission 33 on Spiral Structure during the 12th General Assembly of the IAU in Prague, 1967. So much interest was shown during this meeting that one of us proposed a special Symposium on the 'Spiral Structure of Our Galaxy' for 1969. The response was immediate and it was finally agreed upon holding the Symposium in Basel, a center of galactic research in the center of Europe. During the next months a special 'List of Problems', related to this Symposium, was sent to many prospective participants by the president of Commission 33. This stimulated an increase of interest in problems of galactic spiral structure and a con centrated effort on some problems. The organizing Committee of the Symposium was composed of Drs. L. Woltjer (president), W. Becker, A. Blaauw, B. J. Bok, G. Contopoulos, F. J. Kerr, C. C. Lin, S. W. McCuskey and S. B. Pikel'ner. Most of the work for the organization of the Symposium was carried by Dr. L. W oltjer. The Local Committee, composed of Drs. W. Becker, U. W. Steinlin, R. P. Fenkart, and G. A. Tammann, made every effort to secure the success of the Symposium. Most of the credit goes to Dr. Steinlin. The Symposium was supported financially by the IAU and by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The meetings took place at the University of Basel, which provided also secretarial help and many other facilities.


Spiral Structure in Galaxies

Spiral Structure in Galaxies

Author: Marc S Seigar

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Published: 2017-06-29

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 1681746093

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How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book reviews the history behind the discovery of spiral galaxies and the problems faced when trying to explain the existence of spiral structure within them. In the book, subjects such as galaxy morphology and structure are addressed as well as several models for spiral structure. The evidence in favor or against these models is discussed. The book ends by discussing how spiral structure can be used as a proxy for other properties of spiral galaxies, such as their dark matter content and their central supermassive black hole masses, and why this is important.


Galaxy Morphology and Classification

Galaxy Morphology and Classification

Author: Sidney Van den Bergh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998-04-16

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 0521623359

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A concise and up-to-date guide to the shape of galaxies and how they can be classified, by one of the pioneers of the field.


The Most Interesting Galaxies in the Universe

The Most Interesting Galaxies in the Universe

Author: Joel L Schiff

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Published: 2018-09-13

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1643270044

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Prior to the 1920s it was generally thought, with a few exceptions, that our galaxy, the Milky Way, was the entire Universe. Based on the work of Henrietta Leavitt with Cepheid variables, astronomer Edwin Hubble was able to determine that the Andromeda Galaxy and others had to lie outside our own. Moreover, based on the work of Vesto Slipher, involving the redshifts of these galaxies, Hubble was able to determine that the Universe was not static, as had been previously thought, but expanding. The number of galaxies has also been expanding, with estimates varying from 100 billion to 2 trillion. While every galaxy in the Universe is interesting just by its very fact of being, the author has selected 51 of those that possess some unusual qualities that make them of some particular interest. These galaxies have complex evolutionary histories, with some having supermassive black holes at their core, others are powerful radio sources, a very few are relatively nearby and even visible to the naked eye, whereas the light from one recent discovery has been travelling for the past 13.4 billion years to show us its infancy, and from a time when the Universe was in its infancy. And in spite of the vastness of the Universe, some galaxies are colliding with others, embraced in a graceful gravitational dance. Indeed, as the Andromeda Galaxy is heading towards us, a similar fate awaits our Milky Way. When looking at a modern image of a galaxy, one is in awe at the shear wondrous nature of such a magnificent creation, with its boundless secrets that it is keeping from us, its endless possibilities for harboring alien civilizations, and we remain left with the ultimate knowledge that we are connected to its glory.


The Realm of the Nebulae

The Realm of the Nebulae

Author: Edwin Powell Hubble

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1982-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780300025002

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No modern astronomer made a more profound contribution to our understanding of the cosmos than did Edwin Hubble, who first conclusively demonstrated that the universe is expanding. Basing his theory on the observation of the change in distanct galaxies, called red shift, Hubble showed that this is a Doppler effect, or alteration in the wavelength of light, resulting from the rapid motion of celestial objects away from Earth. In 1935, Hubble described his principal observations and conclusions in the Silliman lectures at Yale University. These lectures were published the following year as "The Realm of the Nebulae," which quickly became a classic work.


The Formation of the Milky Way

The Formation of the Milky Way

Author: E. J. Alfaro

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1995-08-03

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9780521481779

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This review examines all the key physical processes involved in the formation and evolution of the Milky Way, based on an international meeting held in Granada (Spain).


The Milky Way

The Milky Way

Author: William H. Waller

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0691178356

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A grand tour of our dynamic home galaxy This book offers an intimate guide to the Milky Way, taking readers on a grand tour of our home Galaxy's structure, genesis, and evolution, based on the latest astronomical findings. In engaging language, it tells how the Milky Way congealed from blobs of gas and dark matter into a spinning starry abode brimming with diverse planetary systems—some of which may be hosting myriad life forms and perhaps even other technologically communicative species. William Waller vividly describes the Milky Way as it appears in the night sky, acquainting readers with its key components and telling the history of our changing galactic perceptions. The ancients believed the Milky Way was a home for the gods. Today we know it is but one galaxy among billions of others in the observable universe. Within the Milky Way, ground-based and space-borne telescopes have revealed that our Solar System is not alone. Hundreds of other planetary systems share our tiny part of the vast Galaxy. We reside within a galactic ecosystem that is driven by the theatrics of the most massive stars as they blaze through their brilliant lives and dramatic deaths. Similarly effervescent ecosystems of hot young stars and fluorescing nebulae delineate the graceful spiral arms in our Galaxy's swirling disk. Beyond the disk, the spheroidal halo hosts the ponderous—and still mysterious—dark matter that outweighs everything else. Another dark mystery lurks deep in the heart of the Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole has produced bizarre phenomena seen at multiple wavelengths. Waller makes the case that our very existence is inextricably linked to the Galaxy that spawned us. Through this book, readers can become well-informed galactic "insiders"—ready to imagine humanity's next steps as fully engaged citizens of the Milky Way.