Sloan Digital Sky Survey
SkyServer DR12  
Not logged in Login Help
 

DR12 Projects
 Basic
     - Solar System
     - Scavenger Hunt
     - The Universe
     - Asteroids
     - Types of Stars
     - Color
     - Galaxies
 Advanced
 Research Challenges
 For Kids
 User Activities
 Games and Contests
 Links to Others

Galaxies
 Your Classifications
 Spiral Galaxies
 Elliptical Galaxies
 Lenticular Galaxies
 Irregular Galaxies
 Hubble Tuning Fork
 Galaxy Clusters
 Galaxy Collisions
 Other Classifications
 Conclusion
 Your Results

Other Ways to Classify Galaxies

A very blue spiral galaxy from the SDSS

When you look at millions of galaxies as the SDSS does, you can't classify every one by looking at it and placing it on the Hubble Tuning Fork. If it takes 30 seconds to find and classify a galaxy on the Hubble Tuning Fork, it would take almost 100 years to classify all the galaxies in the SDSS's Data Release 12! To classify all the galaxies, astronomers need a faster method.

Fortunately, you can use other properties of galaxies to classify them. Astronomers have known for a long time that galaxy type and color are related. Spiral galaxies tend to have more star forming regions, and younger, bluer stars. Elliptical galaxies tend to have mostly old, red stars.

A team of SDSS astronomers looked at the colors, spectra, and visual images of many galaxies to determine how colors are related to galaxy types in SDSS data. The researchers found that galaxies fell into the clearest groups when they looked at the difference between the ultraviolet (u) and red (r) filters. Specifically, the researchers found that most early galaxies (elliptical, SO, and Sa or SBa) had a u-r value greater than 2.22, and that most late galaxies (Sb or SBb, Sc or SBc and Irregular) had a u-r value less than 2.22.

The method of classifying galaxies by their colors is not perfect. There are some unusually red spiral galaxies and some unusually blue elliptical galaxies. However, the method works well enough that it can be used to analyze the properties of large numbers of galaxies fairly easily.

Exercise 4. Look up the following galaxies in the Object Explorer by clicking on their object IDs in the table below. Classify them as early (E, S0, Sa or SBa) or late (Sb or SBa, Sc or SBc, Irr) galaxies from their u-r values (u and r are located to the right of the galaxy's image). Then, look at their images and classify them on the Hubble tuning fork. (Note: you may need to click on the image and open the Navigate tool to get a better view of the galaxy.)

Use this workbook to keep track of your work.

Object ID

RA Dec

1237655560403878129

248.920 0.331

1237662225706123901

254.768 16.715

1237648704068649509

248.295 -0.213

1237648704068518498

248.051 -0.304

1237655550207197707

248.275 -0.189

1237648673997127724

248.064 -0.050

1237662306744664864

256.022 16.764

1237668336864788995

249.860 11.211

1237662341631247030

256.384 17.304

1237662635841552623

246.455 6.336

Question 5. How many of the galaxies' colors match their Hubble Tuning Fork types? How many do not?

Question 6. Do you think color classification is a good (even if it is not perfect) way of classifying galaxies? Why or why not?