Explore Dave Payne's Astrophotography, showcasing stunning images and insights into astronomy, star formation, galaxies, and more.
In this second posting in the series, angular momentum is added as a second force guiding the structure of spiral galaxies. The coupling of angular momentum with gravity leads to the generalization of the overall shape of a galaxy as a torus, or toroidal disc. The gravitational force associated with a toroidal disk is explored and it is far more complex than a spherical shell.
My first post on this website is the first of five that provide insights into the very misunderstood topic of why galactic spirals are spirals. Here we introduce the two matter ingredients that are necessary to create the structure – hydrogen and a central gravitational structure (a black hole will do). I also introduce the concept of self-gravity via Newton’s Shell Theory – and why a “collapsing molecular cloud” neither explains a galaxy, nor even star formation. Also introduced, is the concept of thermodynamics and how two forms of the same material (hydrogen) makes galaxies even more interesting,