An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A galaxy belonging to an important population of low mass → star-forming galaxies at → redshift z > 2. Their number increases with redshift. A large fraction of the → dwarf starburst galaxies during the → reionization epoch may be intrinsic LAEs, but their Lyα photons can be scattered by the → neutral hydrogen (H I) in the → intergalactic medium (IGM), which makes Lyα line a powerful probe of reionization. These high-z LAEs have low → metallicity, low stellar masses, low dust → extinction, and compact sizes. The current best nearby analogs of high-z LAEs are → Green Pea galaxies (Yang et al, 2017, arxiv/1706.02819 and references therein).

→ Lyman alpha line; → emit; → -ing; → galaxy.

A star-forming galaxy at → high redshift affected by the → Lyman break. Such a galaxy is detected in the red (R, → photometric band) but not in the blue (U and B bands). At those high redshfits (above 2.5), the → Lyman limit at 912 Å is shifted between the U and B bands.

→ Lyman; → break; → galaxy.

A class of low-mass galaxies with relatively rare features. In particular, these galaxies are characterized by a → stellar bar whose center is displaced from that of the disk and a one-armed spiral. The → Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is considered the prototype of this class of objects. However, despite a wealth of data, there is still a good deal of uncertainty concerning the nature of the LMC's bar. The majority of the observed Magellanic spirals in the nearby Universe share the LMC's structure, in particular the evidence of an offset bar and a one-armed spiral structure. A good example of these systems is NGC 3906, which shows evidence of the bar offset from the photometric center of the galaxy by 1.2 kpc (Pardy et al., 2016, ApJ 827, 149).

→ Magellanic; → spiral; → galaxy.

A → metal-poor, → irregular galaxy like the → Large Magellanic Cloud or the → Small Magellanic Cloud. Other examples are: NGC 4449, NGC 4214, and NGC 3109.

→ Magellanic; → type; → galaxy.

A galaxy with abnormally strong emission in the ultraviolet continuum and broad emission lines arising in a bright, semi-stellar nucleus.

Named after B. E. Markarian (1913-1985), an Armenian astronomer who made a catalog of such galaxies (1967-81); → galaxy.

An obsolete term which once denoted the entire system of galaxies including the Milky Way.

→ meta-; → galaxy.

A galaxy whose → metallicity is smaller than that of the → Milky Way galaxy.

Adj. from → metal deficiency; → galaxy.

Same as → metal-deficient galaxy.

→ metal; → poor; → galaxy.

A → spiral galaxy, of which the → solar system is a small part. It is the second largest in our → Local Group of galaxies. The Milky Way is a disk-shaped system, with a diameter of between 80,000 and 100,000 → light-years and a thickness of about 2,000 light-years, containing more than 10¹¹ stars. The stars are divided into two main categories, → Population II stars and → Population I stars.
The core, or nucleus, of the Galaxy is surrounded by an ellipsoidal central → bulge that measures some 15,000 light-years in diameter and about 6,000 light-years in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the disk. Surrounding the bulge and extending in a near spherical distribution above and below the → Galactic plane is the → Galactic halo. The halo contains about 200 → globular clusters and an extremely thinly scattered population of individual stars.
The Sun is located just over half way out from the center to the edge of the disk at a distance of about 25,000 light-years. In common with other stars, the Sun revolves around the → Galactic Center. Its → orbital velocity is about 220 km s^-1 and its → orbital period is about 225 million years. Overall, the Galaxy exhibits → differential rotation, that is stars and gas clouds closer to the center have shorter orbital periods than those that are located further out.
The → spiral arms of the Milky Way lie within its disk, where bright → young stars, → H II regions, and → molecular clouds of gas and dust are concentrated into curved "arms" that appear to radiate from the central bulge in a spiral pattern. The Galaxy's spiral pattern consists of several major arms and a number of shorter segments, one of which, the → Orion arm, contains the Sun and the Orion star-forming region.
Near-infrared observations have shown that the stars in the central bulge are arranged in an elongated → galactic bar, about twice as long as it is wide, that is seen nearly end on from the present location of the solar system. The exact center, or nucleus, of the Galaxy coincides with a strong source of radio emission, called → Sagittarius A, that is less than 15 astronomical units in diameter. Observations of the speeds at which clouds of ionized gas are revolving round the → Galactic center imply that several million solar masses of material are concentrated within a region of about one light-year in radius. Since only about half of this mass can be accounted for by stars, it seems likely that the balance (about 2.5 million solar masses) is contained in a central black hole and that accretion onto this black hole is the underlying source of the energy radiated by Sagittarius A.
The Milky Way also has a → dark matter component. The Galactic → rotation curve indicates that there is a large amount of invisible → non-baryonic surrounding the whole Galaxy.

→ Milky Way; → galaxy.

Of a high redshift supernova, the galaxy in which the event has occurred.

→ parent; → galaxy.

A galaxy lacking optical emission-line activity (e.g., [O II], Hα, [O III]) and showing only stellar absorption lines (e.g., the 4000 Å → calcium break, Mg I, Na I). Also called passively evolving galaxy.

→ passive; → galaxy.

Same as → passive galaxy.

→ passive; → evolve; → galaxy.

An irregular galaxy that has an abnormal shape (neither elliptical, spiral, nor lenticular) and/or has another unusual characteristic.

→ peculiar; → galaxy.

An → elliptical galaxy whose → surface brightness can be approximated by a single → power law at small radii (r ≤ 10-20''). More modern interpretations have emphasized that these profiles can be better understood as the inward continuation of the galaxy's overall → Sersic profile, usually modified by an additional, nuclear-scale stellar component (S. P. Rusli et al., 2013, AJ 146, 160).

→ power; → law; → galaxy.

A high redshift, metal-deficient galaxy that formed very early in the history of the Universe.

→ primordial; → galaxy.

A galaxy which is supposed to be at the origin of a specific event, for example a hypothetical galaxy in which globular clusters might have formed.

→ progenitor; → galaxy.

A huge mass of gas that by contraction and condensation becomes a galaxy of stars. A galaxy during the early phase, before it has developed its present shape and stellar/gas content.

→ proto-; → galaxy.

A galaxy in which star formation is turned off or suppressed by some physical processes. → star formation quenching.

→ quench; → quenching; → galaxy.

A galaxy that is extremely luminous at radio wavelengths between 10 MHz and 100 GHz. The radio luminosity of a strong radio galaxy (10³⁷-10³⁹ watts) can be up to a million times greater than the radio output of an ordinary galaxy and up to a hundred times greater than the optical luminosity of a galaxy such as the Milky Way. The optical counterparts of radio galaxies are usually an → elliptical galaxy. Radio galaxies often exhibit jet structure from a compact nucleus. They typically display two → radio lobes that are often approximately aligned with the jets observed in the optical and that may extend for millions of → light-years.

→ radio; → galaxy.

A galaxy whose distance increases from other galaxies due to the global expansion of the Universe.

Receding, verbal adj. of recede, M.E., from M.Fr. receder, from L. recedere "to go back, withdraw," from → re- "back" + cedere "to go;" → galaxy.

Kahkašân, → galaxy; dur šavandé "receding," from dur, → far, + šavandé agent noun of šodan "to go, to pass; to become, to be, to be doing;" Mid.Pers. šudan, šaw- "to go;" Av. š(ii)auu-, šiyav- "to move, go," šiyavati "goes," šyaoθna- "activity; action; doing, working;" O.Pers. šiyav- "to go forth, set," ašiyavam "I set forth;" cf. Skt. cyu- "to move to and fro, shake about; to stir," cyávate "stirs himself, goes;" Gk. kinein "to move;" Goth. haitan "call, be called;" O.E. hatan "command, call;" PIE base *kei- "to move to and fro."