Extra-galactic Nebulae
9781465674340
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
This contribution gives the results of a statistical investigation of 400 extra-galactic nebulae for which Holetschek has determined total visual magnitudes. The list is complete for the brighter nebulae in the northern sky and is representative to 12.5 mag. or fainter. The classification employed is based on the forms of the photographic images. About 3 per cent are irregular, but the remaining nebulae fall into a sequence of type forms characterized by rotational symmetry about dominating nuclei. The sequence is composed of two sections, the elliptical nebulae and the spirals, which merge into each other. Luminosity relations.—The distribution of magnitudes appears to be uniform throughout the sequence. For each type or stage in the sequence, the total magnitudes are related to the logarithms of the maximum diameters by the formula, where C varies progressively from type to type, indicating a variation in diameter for a given magnitude or vice versa. By applying corrections to C, the nebulae can be reduced to a standard type and then a single formula expresses the relation for all nebulae from the Magellanic Clouds to the faintest that can be classified. When the minor diameter is used, the value of C is approximately constant throughout the entire sequence. The coefficient of log d corresponds with the inverse-square law, which suggests that the nebulae are all of the same order of absolute luminosity and that apparent magnitudes are measures of distance. This hypothesis is supported by similar results for the nuclear magnitudes and the magnitudes of the brightest stars involved, and by the small range in luminosities among nebulae whose distances are already known. Distances and absolute dimensions.—The mean absolute visual magnitude, as derived from the nebulae whose distances are known, is –15.2. The statistical expression for the distance in parsecs is then wheremT is the total apparent magnitude. This leads to mean values for absolute dimensions at various stages in the sequence of types. Masses appear to be of the order of 2.6×108 ☉. Distribution and density of space.—To apparent magnitude about 16.7, corresponding to an exposure of one hour on fast plates with the 60-inch reflector, the numbers of nebulae to various limits of total magnitude vary directly with the volumes of space represented by the limits. This indicates an approximately uniform density of space, of the order of one nebula per 1017 cubic parsecs or 1.5×10–31 in C.G.S. units. The corresponding radius of curvature of the finite universe of general relativity is of the order of 2.7×1010 parsecs, or about 600 times the distance at which normal nebulae can be detected with the 100-inch reflector. Recent studies have emphasized the fundamental nature of the division between galactic and extra-galactic nebulae. The relationship is not generic; it is rather that of the part to the whole. Galactic nebulae are clouds of dust and gas mingled with the stars of a particular stellar system; extra-galactic nebulae, at least the most conspicuous of them, are now recognized as systems complete in themselves, and often incorporate clouds of galactic nebulosity as component parts of their organization. Definite evidence as to distances and dimensions is restricted to six systems, including the Magellanic Clouds. The similar nature of the countless fainter nebulae has been inferred from the general principle of the uniformity of nature.
