Density-wave theory | galactic structure | Britannica (original) (raw)

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spiral structure of galaxies

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  In Milky Way Galaxy: The spiral arms
  …dynamical effect known as a density-wave pattern. The American astronomers Chia-Chiao Lin and Frank H. Shu showed that a spiral shape is a natural result of any large-scale disturbance of the density distribution of stars in a galactic disk. When the interaction of the stars with one another is calculated,…
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