Need help interpreting what I am seeing
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I haven't attempted to classify that many galaxies, so I would like some help interpreting this image. I would describe this as a bright round core/center with a bar extending from upper right to lower left. Perhaps a disk overlapping a spiral? I would interpret three? spirals. I would like to be more accurate in my interpretation / description of the galaxy/galaxies.
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ElisabethB
moderator
Hi RickinFlorida and welcome to the Zoo
I'd classify this one as : features - not an edge on - bar - spiral - tight - 2 arms - noticeable bulge - anything odd : no. But that is just me ! 😄
Just answer the questions as well as you can and you'll do fine. And you can always come here in Talk to ask questions !
happy hunting 😄
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Budgieye
moderator
To me, it looks like a 2 armed barred spiral but the arms are not connected to the spirals very well. Both bars and spirals are temporary features, changing shape, so maybe we are seeing this galaxy during a transition phase, possibly leading to a ring. But this is just guessing on my part.
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RickinFlorida
in response to Budgieye's comment.
Budgieye - I'm not familiar with the term "barred spiral." I'm guessing it exactly describes what's shown in the image; a bar with spirals extending from each end.How is a bar different from a disk viewed edge on? Would one expect to always see spirals at one or both ends? Thank you for your time helping a novice.
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Budgieye
moderator
The formation of bars is a bit of a mystery. Galaxy Zoo is helping to understand how galaxies form and evolve, but classifying all the "nearby" million galaxies.
You are correct, sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a big bar, and an edge-on galaxy. A bar is seen on a face-on galaxy, which is the usual orientation.
Usually there is a spiral arm attached to the end of a bar.
Here are links to some images of barred spirals 1.7 Barred Spiral galaxies http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/#/boards/BGZ0000001/discussions/DGZ0000wrb?page=1&comment_id=53d8b7990d43f77b9e000f75
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