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do galaxies wobble?
When talking about the rotation of spiral galaxies, it almost always
seems to mean rotating in a plane. I was wondering if it was possible that the galaxy also precesses much like a spinning top. Perhaps this would occur when the galaxy was young. Has this ever been observed? Could it? Thanks, Ted |
#2
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do galaxies wobble?
Ted Sung wrote:
When talking about the rotation of spiral galaxies, it almost always seems to mean rotating in a plane. I was wondering if it was possible that the galaxy also precesses much like a spinning top. Perhaps this would occur when the galaxy was young. Has this ever been observed? Could it? A galaxy disk could show precession under the influence of some external torque whidch is misaligned with its rotation, but not all radii in the disk would respond at the same rate. Some spirals in interacting systems do show such disk warps with radius (especially if we happen to see this warp from the clearest direction or can see how foreground dust doesn't match the plane of stars behind it), as in Arp 230 from the HST public-release pictures. Such warps can be long-lasting once excited - which is why evidence of warps in the outer disk of the Milky Way and Andromeda are discussed in terms of past encounters or minor mergers. Bill Keel |
#3
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do galaxies wobble?
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