Whar is a GALACTIC HALO?

A galactic halo is an extended, roughly spherical component of a galaxy which extends beyond the main, visible component. Several distinct components of galaxies comprise the halo:

• the stellar halo
• the galactic corona (hot gas, i.e. a plasma)
• the dark matter halo

The distinction between the halo and the main body of the galaxy is clearest in spiral galaxies, where the spherical shape of the halo contrasts with the flat disc. In an elliptical galaxy, there is no sharp transition between the other components of the galaxy and the halo.

The stellar halo is a nearly spherical population of field stars and globular clusters. It surrounds most disk galaxies as well as some elliptical galaxies of type cD. A low amount (about one percent) of a galaxy’s stellar mass resides in the stellar halo, meaning its luminosity is much lower than other components of the galaxy.

The Milky Way’s stellar halo contains globular clusters, RR Lyrae stars with low metal content, and subdwarfs. Stars in our stellar halo tend to be old (most are greater than 12 billion years old) and metal-poor, but there are also halo star clusters with observed metal content similar to disk stars.

The halo stars of the Milky Way have an observed radial velocity dispersion of about 200 km/s and a low average velocity of rotation of about 50 km/s. Star formation in the stellar halo of the Milky Way ceased long ago.

A galactic corona is a distribution of gas extending far away from the center of the galaxy. It can be detected by the distinct emission spectrum it gives off, showing the presence of HI gas (H one, 21 cm microwave line) and other features detectable by X-ray spectroscopy.

The dark matter halo is a theorized distribution of dark matter which extends throughout the galaxy extending far beyond its visible components. The mass of the dark matter halo is far greater than the mass of the other components of the galaxy.

Its existence is hypothesized in order to account for the gravitational potential that determines the dynamics of bodies within galaxies. The nature of dark matter halos is an important area in current research in cosmology, in particular its relation to galactic formation and evolution.

The formation of stellar halos occurs naturally in a cold dark matter model of the universe in which the evolution of systems such as halos occurs from the bottom-up, meaning the large scale structure of galaxies is formed starting with small objects.

Halos, which are composed of both baryonic and dark matter, form by merging with each other. Evidence suggests that the formation of galactic halos may also be due to the effects of increased gravity and the presence of primordial black holes. 

The gas from halo mergers goes toward the formation of the central galactic components, while stars and dark matter remain in the galactic halo.

A halo can be studied by observing its effect on the passage of light from distant bright objects like quasars that are in line of sight beyond the galaxy in question. 

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