Multiwavelength Atlas of Galaxies


The Multiwavelength Atlas of Galaxies is a textbook and atlas of 35 well studied galaxies authored by Glen Mackie of the Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology. It was originally published in 2011 by Cambridge University Press.

Atlas scope

The purpose of the atlas is to display and describe some of the best multiwavelength images of galaxies. The images originate from a variety of telescopes, instruments and detectors, and therefore possess wide ranges of signal-to-noise, angular resolution, sampling or pixel sizes and fields of view. The atlas is a compendium of galaxy images spanning the Gamma ray, X-ray, Ultraviolet, Optical, Infrared, Submillimeter and Radio regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The atlas has been favourably reviewed in the Royal Astronomical Society journal, Astronomy & Geophysics. Creating the atlas was a long term project ten years in the making. Background on the genesis of the atlas can be found in an interview with the author in the Swinburne University of Technology Venture magazine. It is recommended for graduate students and above.
Explanatory text describes how different radiation is produced, which objects it originates from, and what types of telescopes are used to detect it. The galaxies are divided into categories of Normal, Interacting, Merging, Starburst and Active, though many have been classified across one or more categories. The reasons for inclusion of a galaxy into a specific category is explained in the individual galaxy summaries in the Atlas.

Galaxy types

Normal galaxies include galaxies that appear morphologically normal, do not possess unusual star formation rates, and have continuum spectra with a thermal form characterized by one or more temperatures. Twelve N classified galaxies are in the Atlas.
Interacting galaxies display morphological signatures of a gravitational interaction with another nearby galaxy or are influenced by the passage through a dense medium that can 'strip out' constituent gas. Four I classified galaxies are in the Atlas.
Merging galaxies are the later evolutionary stages of two or more Interacting galaxies that have orbits and dynamics conducive to a final merger. Five M classified galaxies are in the Atlas.
Starburst galaxies undergo intense star formation that is well in excess of normal rates. Large numbers of young stars exist and the dust content can be extremely high. Three S classified galaxies are in the Atlas.
Active galaxies have Active Galactic Nuclei and include LINER, Seyfert, Radio Galaxy, Quasar and Blazar types. 'Activity' refers to non-stellar processes occurring or originating in a galaxy nucleus. An active nucleus has a spectrum with a continuum that cannot be explained by radiation from one or more stellar objects. Eleven A classified galaxies are in the Atlas. Active galaxies typically have strong emission over a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum making them prime targets for multiwavelength observations. Hence galaxies categorised Active make up a large fraction of the Atlas sample, and comprise 43% of the total sample if other Atlas galaxies with activity as a sub-category are included.
.
Radiation from all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum has now been detected from galaxies. These observations have utilized telescopes at ground-based observatories, telescopes in aircraft, detectors on balloons that voyaged to the upper atmosphere, instrument payloads on rockets that reached space, observatory satellites in Earth and Solar orbit as well as instruments aboard planetary missions journeying through the Solar System.

List of galaxies in the Multiwavelength Atlas of Galaxies

Category/GalaxyGroup/ClusterR.A. Dec. Typev0 Dist. Other cat.
Normal
The GalaxyLG17 42 29-28 59 188.5E-3I, A?
NGC 224/M 31LG00 40 0040 59 42SbI-II-100.7
SMCLG00 50 53-73 04 18ImIV-V-190.07I
NGC 300Sth. Polar00 52 31-37 57 24ScII.81281.2
NGC 598/M 33LG01 31 0330 23 54ScII-III690.7
NGC 891NGC 1023 Grp.02 19 2542 07 12Sb on edge7799.6
NGC 1399Fornax Cl.03 36 35-35 36 42E1137516.9
LMCLG05 24 00-69 48SBmIII340.05I
NGC 291509 26 31-76 24 304683.3
Malin 210 37 1021 06 2913820141
NGC 5457/M101M 101 Grp.14 01 2854 35 36ScI3725.4I?
NGC 6822LG19 42 07-14 55 42ImIV-V150.7
Interacting
NGC 4406/M 86Virgo Cl.12 23 4013 13 24S01/E3-36716.8
NGC 4472/M 49Virgo Cl.12 27 1708 16 42E1/S0182216.8
NGC 467612 43 4431 00 1287.0
NGC 5194/M 5113 27 4647 27 18SbcI-II5417.7A
Merging
NGC 52001 22 0003 31 54Amorphous235027.8
NGC 1275Pers. Cl./Abell 42603 16 3041 19 48E pec543372.4A
NGC 1316Fornax Cl.03 20 47-37 23 06Sa pec 171316.9A
NGC 4038/911 59 19-18 35 06Sc pec139125.5
NGC 725222 17 58-24 55 54merger475963.5
Starburst
NGC 253Sth. Polar Grp.00 45 08-25 33 42Sc2933.0
NGC 3034/M 82M 81 Grp.09 51 4169 54 54Amorphous4095.2I
NGC 5236/M 8313 34 10-29 36 48SBcII2754.7I?
Active
NGC 1068/M 7702 40 07-00 13 30SbII123414.4
NGC 1365Fornax Cl.03 31 42-36 18 18SBbI156216.9
NGC 3031/M 81M 81 Grp.09 51 3069 18 18SbI-II1241.4I
NGC 4258/M 10612 16 2947 35 00SbII5206.8
3C 27312 26 3302 19 43589.0
NGC 4486/M 87Virgo Cl.12 28 1712 40 06E0113616.8
NGC 4594/M 10412 37 23-11 21 00Sa+/Sb−87320.0
NGC 5128N5128 Grp.13 22 32-42 45 30S0+S pec2514.9I
A1795#1Abell 179513 46 3426 50 25243.9I
Arp 22015 32 4723 40 0871.3S, M
Cygnus A19 57 4440 35 46221.4

Notes to Table:
Group/Cluster: LG: Local Group; Sth. Polar Grp.: South Polar Group, also known as the Sculptor Group; Pers. Cl.: Perseus Cluster.
Right Ascension and Declination: From a Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog
of Bright Galaxies, when available,
or else from the SIMBAD astronomical database except for the Galaxy.
Type: Where possible galaxy types are taken from RSA.
This classification scheme is the revised Hubble system.
The exceptions, NGC 2915 ;
the Galaxy ;
Malin 2 are indicated with types
given in .
v0: The corrected recession velocity relative to the Local
Group centroid, in km s−1 from RSA.
Redshifts are given in when v0 is not listed in RSA.
Velocities for NGC 2915 and Malin 2 are from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database and are heliocentric.
Distance: In Mpc from Tully, except for the Galaxy
; LMC ; SMC ; Malin 2 ;
NGC 1275 and NGC 7252 ; and NGC 4676, 3C 273, A1795#1, Arp 220,
Cygnus A 2 - 1]/
Other Categories: N - Normal, I - Interacting, M - Merging, S - Starburst, A - Active.
References for Table:
McGaugh, S.S., and Bothun, G.D. 1994, A. J., 107, 530.
Mezger, P.G., Duschl, W.J. and Zylka, R. 1996, Astron. Ap. Review, 7, 289.
Panagia, N. et al. 1991, Ap. J., 380, L23.
Rowan-Robinson, M. 1985, 'The Cosmological Distance Ladder',. p. 153.
Sandage, A. and Tammann, G. A. 1981, A Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies,
Tully, R.B. 1988, Nearby Galaxies Catalog,.