Part 4 (chapters 4-1 –› 4-4) presents an infinite universe as an alternative for big bang cosmology.

[June 2004: Recently a team of astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) has made the first conclusive detection of neutral hydrogen clouds swarming around and towards the Andromeda Galaxy. Spectral and photometric analysis of young stars in the Milky Way and other galaxies show that there are a certain number of young stars that are surprisingly bereft of heavy elements. Neutral hydrogen clouds entering galaxies may explain such stars¹⁴⁴.
A hydrogen production mechanism as discussed in 5-2 may explain the existence of HII and electrons in intergalactic/intercluster space, which may become neutral hydrogen clouds streaming towards concentrations of matter like galaxies, universal engines and g-galaxies.

An example of a relatively very small g-galaxy that has been fuelled by hydrogen/gas from intergalactic/intercluster space may be the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 1569, which is a hot bed of recent vigorous star birth activity. It harbors two very prominent young, massive clusters plus a large number of smaller star clusters. The two young massive clusters match the globular star clusters we find in our own Milky Way galaxy, while the smaller ones are comparable with the less massive open clusters around us¹⁴⁵.
I think that further investigations of NGC 1569 may show that the 2 massive clusters are revolving around each other. End June 2004]

[July 9 2006: Recently astronomers have found much more neutral hydrogen gas than they expected among spirals and ellipticals. They were also quite surprised about the temperature of the gas, which was much colder than they expected⁴¹⁹. The big bang astronomers think the gas is spit out by the galaxies, but perhaps the gas has come from intercluster space, perhaps the gas was produced by radio loud activity long ago (4-1). End July 9 2006]

[February 1 2008: A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and it will hit our galaxy in less than 40 million years. Eleven thousand light-years long and 2,500 light-years wide, it is only 8,000 light-years from our Galaxy's disk en careening toward our galaxy at more than 150 miles per second. Big bang astronomers think the cloud is most likely a gas cloud left over from the formation of the Milky Way or gas stripped from a neighbor galaxy⁴⁷⁸. I wonder if they are right. Perhaps most of the gas cloud comes from a radio loud quasar (5-2). End February 1 2008]

[February 2005: Using the Very Large Array (VLA) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers Wil van Breugel and Steve Croft have shown that a peculiar starburst system in the NGC 541 radio galaxy, formed when a radio jet - undetectable in visible light but revealed by radio observations - triggered star formation. The big bang astronomers think that the radio jets are due to electrons that are propelled out of the surrounding of a massive black hole. The electrons radiate at radio frequencies because of their motion in magnetic fields. The electrons may affect the formation of stars when they collide with dense gas²⁷⁶.
I think that the jets not only contain electrons but also protons and that those electrons/protons can fuel dark matter objects that light up as stars in a starburst system. I think that the electrons/protons are not produced by a black hole , 5-2). End February 2005]

[October 16 2006: Within the galaxy formation theory on this website it is suggested that a cluster of galaxies may shrink and end up as a sphere of (torn apart) old galaxies. Such an old cluster may get fuelled with new hydrogen/gas from intercluster space and become a cD galaxy or giant elliptical galaxy. Recently astronomers have found the Spiderweb Galaxy. The Hubble Space Telescope has found this large galaxy 10.6 billion (big bang) light-years away from Earth (at a redshift of 2.2). The Hubble image shows the Spiderweb Galaxy sitting at the centre of an emergent galaxy cluster, surrounded by hundreds of other galaxies from the cluster. The Spiderweb Galaxy is stuffing itself with smaller galaxies caught like flies in a web of gravity⁴³⁷. The Spiderweb Galaxy and its surrounding galaxies may become a cD galaxy or giant elliptical galaxy in the far future (with or without a phase in which the galaxy/cluster of galaxies have become dark; dark until they get refuelled with new hydrogen/gas). End October 16 2006]

cD galaxies appear superficially to be ellipticals, but they have greatly extended envelopes and, frequently, multiple nuclei.
The greatly extended envelopes may be the result of the above mentioned hydrogen streams.
The multiple nuclei of cD galaxies may be multiple shrunk old galaxies (in the center) of a shrunk g-galaxy, but very more likely, in the case of a cD galaxy: multiple shrunk old g-galaxies of a shrunk super g-galaxy (which may have been an old cluster or even an old supercluster).

Multiple nuclei of cD galaxies then ought to have high orbiting speed around each other, which is observed: Doppler-shift data indicate that the nuclei within a cD move at relative speeds of about 1000 km/s⁸, which may make sense, because that is of the order of the largest peculiar velocities of galaxies in (super)clusters (4-1) which are the progenitors of large g-galaxies on this website (4-1).
Nuclei in cD galaxies may be old QSOs that have stopped showing AGN activity (5-3), or rather: may be old QSOs that became normal galaxies that formed a cluster which later shrunk into a g-galaxy, thus originating the multiple nuclei in the center of cD galaxy.
[June 13 2005: The spiral galaxy M83 may harbour two colossal “black holes” instead of the usual one, new observations suggest. But if it does, big bang astronomers are mystified as to how the second “black hole” got there without ruining the galaxy's spiral structure³³⁹.
If spirals descend from elliptical galaxies as mentioned hereafter then they “inherit” the multiple nuclei of the ellipticals. (Big bang astronomers think that ellipticals come to existence by the merging of two spiral galaxies.) End June 13 2005]

cD galaxies are located at the centers of clusters, which may make sense, because one is likely to find the strongest g-galaxies/universal engines at the centers of clusters.

The diameters of cD galaxies range up to 2000 kpc where the diameters of ellipticals range up to 200 kpc. cD galaxies may therefore too be progenitors of (at least some) giant elliptical galaxies.

[May 2003: G-galaxies that have turned dark may be very stable systems (compared to luminous galaxies that are changing relatively fast because luminous stars burn away mass) that endure for a very long time and thus it may be that the amount of luminous (baryonic) matter in the universe is very small compared to the amount of nonluminous/dark (baryonic) matter. But: in a universe with an ether (or ethers if it turns out that there are even smaller particles to be found than gravity particles, see 3-1) the total (luminous matter and dark matter) amount of baryonic matter may be very small compared to the amount of non-baryonic matter (4-2).
So there may be a good reason why nonluminous voids in the universe keep “quiet” (because of stable enduring “silent”/dark g-galaxies. But perhaps one day we'll find ways that enable us to observe (thermal blackbody radio waves emitting?) g-galaxies in nonluminous voids.
[July 2004: Such galaxies may have been found: submillimeter galaxies (4-1). End July 2004]

On the other hand, though, I more and more think that galaxies, clusters, superclusters, super-superclusters, etc. are shrinking continuously while attracting hydrogen continuously, i.e. galaxies, clusters, etc., but also old (dark) galaxies and g-galaxies may (as good as) always be at least a little luminous (for there will always be a few stars shining. My guess is now that big non-luminous voids will appear to be less non-luminous, i.e. weak (visible light) sources may come to the front when one takes a better sharper look. End May 2003]
[July 2004: G-galaxies are likely to have a lot of dust, so visible light sources may not be likely to be found after all. End July 2004]

There may be a lot of heavy elements in the universal engine or the center of an elliptical (heavy elements in the form of dark matter objects and in the form of dust originated by clashing of dark matter objects) but not outside the universal engine/center of an elliptical, which may account for the low heavy element content in the stars of ellipticals and the low dust concentration in ellipticals. (One has to take in mind here, though, that the outer regions of stars probably are not representative for the (overall) element content of stars, see 7-1).
[July 2004: Elliptical galaxies can have dust inside, which may be explained by an old g-galaxy (4-3). End July 2004]

When occasionally there is a little more dark matter/dust somewhere in an elliptical galaxy then Population I stars can come to existence in that part of the elliptical, which may explain the existence of Population I stars (sometimes) in ellipticals.
[June 2004: Elliptical galaxies shine with the diffuse, reddish glow normally associated with Population II stars, i.e. what I see as stars that have originated from relatively small dark matter objects. But (larger) ellipticals can have swallowed an old (darkened) dwarf elliptical that has blackened Population II stars, i.e. larger dark matter objects (that can clash and therefore such an old dark dwarf elliptical is likely to have a lot of dust, i.e. heavy elements). This then may be the reason why astronomers have identified a huge number of globular clusters with hot(ter) metal-rich stars inside the elliptical galaxy NGC 4365), much to their surprise¹⁹⁹. End June 2004] [July 2004: But also dust remnants of the old g-galaxy that originated the elliptical may bring metal-rich stars. End July 2004]

Perhaps that a (less concentrated) more-disk shaped old big g-galaxy may turn in a (more diffuse) cD galaxy by attracting hydrogen where a (stronger concentrated) more-sphere shaped old big g-galaxy may turn into a (more concentrated giant) elliptical by attracting hydrogen (5-3).

The rotating universal engine slowly may bring the attracted matter into rotation. Thus elliptical galaxies already may rotate around their axes (very slowly). Little by little the universal engine in the nucleus of the galaxy brings the whole galaxy more and more into rotation until the galaxy more and more transforms from a more sphere shaped galaxy into a more disk shaped galaxy. Gravitational forces may cause stars, dark matter and hydrogen to flow into certain “rivers” of matter (rotating the nuclear bulge while slowly flowing to the nuclear bulge), thus accounting for the spiral arms of the galaxy.
Meanwhile the galaxy shrinks and more and more stars turn into dark matter objects (which will partly light up again as Population I stars, see 7-1). Thus ellipticals may slowly transform into spirals. The nuclei, i.e. universal engines, in spirals then are, of course, likely to have faster rotation than the spiral arms of the galaxies.

[September 3 2005: Seen in visible light NGC 4625, a relatively nearby galaxy, only shows a diffuse halo, with a hint of spiral arms. But in the ultraviolet gaze of NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, it clearly has vast spiral arms which extend four times the size of the galaxy's core. The galaxy therefore puzzles big bang astronomers³⁴⁸.
NGC 4625 may be an example of an elliptical that is changing into a spiral galaxy. End September 3 2005]

[May 2004: It remains to be seen whether or not elliptical galaxies really flatten when they turn into spiral galaxies. Perhaps they only appear to flatten, while in reality the flow of gas within the galaxy brings the luminous part of the galaxy into a spiral shape (4-4). End May 2004]

Spirals thus may be older galaxies than ellipticals, though it depends on the magnitude of the galaxies: smaller ellipticals generally may turn into spirals sooner and so a giant elliptical may be older than a relatively small spiral.

Elliptical galaxies may be young and therefore spherical. They may be more shaped by gravitational attraction by the universal engine in the center of the galaxy. Only later the rotation of the universal engine may get more grip on the elliptical galaxy, which then turns into a spiral. (Perhaps ellipticals don't necessarily (always) have to be progenitors of spirals, see 5-3.)

When an elliptical galaxy has finally become a spiral galaxy much mass has been radiated away and much mass has become nonluminous and the galaxy has shrunk. This may be the reason why spiral galaxies do not exhibit the great range of masses and sizes of the elliptical galaxies (4-4).
[July 2004: The elliptical will shrink, but also: I think now that gas flowing towards the nucleus within a disk of gas in the elliptical brings the spiral arms where the rest of the rest of the elliptical becomes the dark matter halo of the future spiral (4-3). End July 2004]

As with (giant) ellipticals and cD galaxies the cores of spiral galaxies often have multiple (smaller) nuclei, as is the case in our Galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy (4-3).

The nuclei of the galactic center of our Galaxy should have lost very much momentum by bringing all the matter of our Galaxy into rotation, thus creating the spiral structure.
Thus the nuclei (like Sagittarius A and B, who consist of multiple nuclei themselves) of the galactic center of our Galaxy ought to have lost much of the orbiting speed about the very center of the Galaxy).

Perhaps ellipticals slowly adjust themselves to the enormous rotating power that is in their core: the universal engine that may attract hydrogen gas, dust and dark matter from outside the (old) elliptical (outboard material, 4-4), while at the same time it may attract Population II stars, concentrated hydrogen, dust and dark matter (like black dwarfs) from inside the (old) elliptical (inboard material).
Thus the nuclear bulge, spiral arms and the halo of spiral galaxies may originate, with more inboard material in the nuclear bulge, less inboard material in the spiral arms and hardly or not at all inboard material in the halo.
Universal engines may solve the problems with understanding the spiral structure of spirals, for the mechanism that “drives” a spiral galaxy is not understood so far⁸.

One may argue: suppose you have a large amount of dark matter that does not rotate or that hardly rotates (a big universal “engine” without rotation), then this could cause an elliptical to come to existence and then the elliptical won't start to rotate and hence won't become a spiral later.
I don't consider it as likely to happen, for a large amount of dark matter that does not (strongly) rotate may be “doomed”. It may explode as a supernovae (4-4, 5-2).
Though: a pulsar (6-1) or a white dwarf (6-2) that has left a galaxy may have slow rotation and assemble hydrogen (and small dark matter objects), thus originating a small galaxy or a globular cluster (4-3, 4-4).

The clusters/galaxies in the space region close to us may all be of a certain “generation” (4-3, 5-4) of clusters/galaxies that have originated from an enormous old g-galaxy. Thus perhaps further away we see more spirals in the middle of clusters. But then: big spirals in the middle of clusters, originating from giant ellipticals, may have needed so much time to become a spiral at last, that by then the cluster has shrunk and all cluster galaxies surrounding the old giant have (completely or partly) darkened and approached the old elliptical, which by then has become a spiral, and hence we do not see a cluster, we only see a giant spiral (with a few small galaxies surrounding it). This spiral may have become a Seyfert galaxy by then (5-1).

Perhaps young ellipticals are more sphere-like when the g-galaxy in the core is more sphere-like and perhaps young ellipticals are more flattened when the g-galaxy in the core is more flattened (5-3).
Thus perhaps the form of a young elliptical may be spherical (E0/E3) as well as (more) flattened (E3/E7).

The shape of an elliptical may depend on:

Observations have shown that the greater the angular momentum of a spiral galaxy the more flattened the galaxy⁸, which is easy to understand with a central universal engine causing the momentum and directing the shape of a galaxy.

The stronger the universal engine the more gas is sucked up from far away. So on average bigger galaxies will have stronger universal engines (also depending on the amount of hydrogen available and competition by other universal engines), which have stronger momentum and which will thus flatten the galaxy more.
The flatness of a galaxy may also depend on the hydrogen concentrations around the universal engine, or: the shape (flat or sphere-like) of the hydrogen region that flows to the engine. Also the amount of (lose floating) dark matter may play a part, by slowing down the hydrogen flow (4-3).

[February 13 2006: New Chandra observations of spiral galaxy NGC 5746 have revealed a large halo of hot gas surrounding the optical disk of the galaxy. This halo extends for more than 60,000 light years, but the galaxy itself doesn't seem to show any sign of active star formation. Therefore the researchers think it is not likely that the galaxy has spit out the gas. Big bang researchers think that the hot gas is probably from the gradual inflow of intergalactic material⁴⁰⁰.
The gas may come from intergalactic space as explained throughout this website (4-3). The gas halo has the same shape as dark matter haloes which researchers think they have found around an elliptical galaxy, i.e. in the form of a sphere (4-1). With dark matter in the haloes in the form of old darkened stars it would be logical if the gas is attracted to the dark matter and so it may be explained why gas haloes have the same shape as dark matter haloes. End February 13 2006]

Population II stars and hydrogen clouds may go to the center, thus creating the (spherical) nuclear bulge of the galaxy with Population II stars (a part of the Population II stars may have become Population I stars by sucking in dust) and newly created O and OB stars that may originate from old cooled down white dwarfs that have assembled new hydrogen, thus becoming luminous stars again (6-2).
At the same time the outer parts of the (old elliptical) galaxy may flatten because those parts adjust themselves to the rotating universal engine in the core of the galaxy.

[May 2003: Much of the shape of our Galaxy, like the nuclear bulge, may have been determined long ago by old dark matter, i.e. old galaxies, that may have formed the nuclear bulge (4-1, 4-3). This dark matter, i.e. dark matter objects, then may have lighted up as new stars by new infalling hydrogen.

For several years astronomers have noted that the masses of (supermassive) “black holes” are directly proportional to the sizes of central bulges of stars in galaxies. This led to the speculation that formation of the black holes and of the stars are somehow related to each other. Scientists hypothesized that gas being drawn towards a galaxy's central “black hole” is the same gas from which large numbers of stars are forming⁴⁰. This is, of course, exactly what this webpage is about, but then with a universal engine instead of a (supermassive) “black hole”.

Studies of more-nearby galaxies supported such speculation, but the question remained whether the idea could be applied to galaxies very far away. New observation gives strong support to the idea that large numbers of stars are forming in far away galaxies at the same time that their central “black holes” are pulling in additional mass⁴⁰.
Large numbers of Blue Compact Dwarfs are seen very far away (4-1). I think that in such galaxies one will indeed see massive star formation while new mass is pulled in by the universal engine. End May 2003]

[May 2004: One of the for conventional scientists most remarkable discoveries of recent years has been the demonstration that every large galaxy harbors, at its core, a (what they think is a) black hole. The mass of the central black holes is very closely related to the properties of the galaxy in which it is embedded, which implies for big bang astronomers that the formation of the black hole is intimately entwined with that of its galaxy, but the nature of this link remains obscure for them⁹⁸.
By searching for tell tale features in the spectra of more than 120,000 galaxies, a team of astronomers concluded that more than 20,000 of them contain black holes that are currently growing. The growth rate of the black hole was inferred from the strength of characteristic emission lines known to be correlated with how much material is falling onto the very center of the galaxy, which is, for them, a black hole⁹⁸.
These, by big bang astronomers called, “growing black holes” are located almost exclusively in galaxies more massive than the Milky Way. Massive galaxies where “black hole growth” is currently weak or absent typically have the structure and star content of old elliptical galaxies, which finished making stars long ago, the big bang researchers explained. Galaxies where “black hole growth” is currently strong have similar mass and structure, but show evidence for substantial recent star formation⁹⁸.
Large galaxies have large universal engines (4-1) which are mistakenly looked at by big bang astronomers as black holes. Galaxies with recent star formation are galaxies that have much gas flowing to their centers, so there will also be gas flowing to the very center of the galaxy, the universal engine.

In recent years a number of studies have revealed that the innermost centers of giant elliptical galaxies - the inner 1 percent - have no stars. Big bang astronomers suspect that massive black holes are responsible for this, gravitationally hurling away any stars that venture too near and devouring the stars that come in really close. This scouring phenomenon then would tend to dim the centers of giant elliptical galaxies, which runs counter to the trend that bigger galaxies tend to have brighter centers¹⁰³.
If the innermost centers of giant elliptical galaxies indeed have no stars then this may be explained by a very fast rotating core of dark matter objects of an old shrunken galaxy or cluster of galaxies that brings hydrogen that comes close by into fast rotation around the core, thus not letting hydrogen fall on the dark matter objects in the core and thus preventing star formation.
Later, when the elliptical has turned into a spiral galaxy the rotation of the core may have diminished because much of its rotational momentum has gone into the rotation of the spiral, i.e. the core has brought the elliptical into rotation and by doing so the core has started to rotate slower itself. So then hydrogen may start to fall into the core and star formation then may take place within the core of the galaxy that has become a spiral galaxy, or: the very core has shrunken into an object like Sagittarius A* (4-1) that is surrounded by a (also) shrunken larger center of the original giant elliptical galaxy where star formation does take place. When finally the rotation becomes very slow a spiral may turn into a LINER (5-3) (though, the origin of LINER qualities may rather come from a (much) larger part of the center of the original giant elliptical). End May 2004]

[February 26 2005: Giant elliptical galaxies often have or have had AGNs in their centers. Such AGNs can blow away gas from the center which then may account for the absence of stars in the innermost centers of giant elliptical galaxies²⁸³. End February 26 2005]

With the concept of an elliptical turning into a spiral galaxy it may be explained why the halo of our Galaxy turns around much slower than the spiral arms of our Galaxy: being further away from the core (and with mass that comes from much further away out of intergalactic space) the halo of a spiral needs more time to adjust its rotation rate to the rotation of the universal engine in the core of the nuclear bulge of a spiral than the spiral arms of a spiral.

[May 2004: Measurements by astronomers have given a strong indication that the halos of galaxies are flattened, like a rubber ball compressed to half its size⁸⁸.
Also halos may be rotating and therefore halos too may flatten. Though, there are also reports that the Milky Way's dark matter is in spherical distribution¹¹⁵ (4-4). End May 2004]

[June 2004: When a cluster of galaxies can turn into a dark g-galaxy (4-1) which can shrink and eventually attract hydrogen from intergalactic space and thus originate an elliptical galaxy than such g-galaxies are likely to flatten like ellipticals may flatten into spirals as described here. Such flattened g-galaxies then may have a lot of clashing dark matter objects and thus produce large amounts of dust in a disk (i.e. the flattened old shrunken g-galaxy) within an elliptical galaxy.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured in unprecedented detail a parallelogram-shaped structure of dust within the massive elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. Big bang astronomers explain the geometric shape of the dust by using a model that describes a flat spiral galaxy falling into an elliptical galaxy and becoming twisted and warped in the process. The folds in the warped disc, when viewed nearly edge on, then take on the appearance of a parallelogram¹⁷³.
I think that the parallelogram-shaped structure of dust in Centaurus A is the remnant (inboard dust, 4-4) of the old g-galaxy that originated Centaurus A (see also 4-4 for dark galaxies/g-galaxies remnants in the from of dust). The disk may indeed be warped, thus accounting for the parallelogram-shaped structure. Such warping then may be explained for the same reasons as with the warped disk in the center of the Circinus galaxy (4-4). End June 2004]

[July 2004: When an old g-galaxy can be inside an elliptical galaxy in the form of disk of dust then one may expect that an old g-galaxy in the form of a disk may be able to attract gas. Ohio University astronomers have discovered the largest disk of hot, X-ray emitting gas ever observed in the universe: 90,000 light years in diameter (December 2002). The disk, spins through a distant galaxy, NGC 1700, a young elliptical galaxy about 160 million light years from Earth. Giant in size and about 8 million degrees in temperature, the disk was an unexpected find²²¹.
Perhaps it is no surprise that NGC 1700 is a young elliptical galaxy. A young galaxy still may have a relatively large disk inside that has formed itself around a still strong universal engine (i.e. shrunk galaxy or shrunk cluster of galaxies/g-galaxy) that brings the elliptical into rotation (thus changing the elliptical into a spiral).
Though, I rather think that the disk is what you may expect when an elliptical turns itself into a spiral. The gas in an elliptical will be speeded up into rotation first rather than the stars within the elliptical (4-3). Thus the disk of gas within NGC 1700 may be the progenitor of the spiral arms that will be formed later out of the disk. Or rather: in the disk of gas new stars can be formed out of blackened and cooled down stars (dark matter objects forming Population I stars in future spiral arms) where other stars in the elliptical will blacken and won't be refuelled with gas. Gas will stream towards the center of the galaxy along the places where most matter is, thus “rivers of gas” may turn up as arms of spiral galaxies. This may mean that between the arms of spiral galaxies there ought to be a lot of old blackened stars, i.e. dark matter, too. When spiral galaxies go from Sa to Sb to Sc there will be less and less gas coming into the galaxy fuelling the stars within the arms. Such gas too will stream along places in the arm where most matter is, which is in the middle of the arms. Therefore we may see that the arms of spirals become thinner when the spirals go from Sa to Sb to Sc.
[October 25 2005: “Rivers of gas” (caused by gravity as rivers of water on Earth are caused by gravity) will contain dust too. “Rivers of dust” can be seen on infrared pictures recently made of the Andromeda galaxy³⁷⁵. Of course, the structure of the Andromeda galaxy as well as the structures of other spiral galaxies too may be (partly) caused by other galaxies moving towards the Andromeda galaxy and then being torn up by the central galaxy (which may be the cause of the bright more outward from the center laying dust ring³⁷⁵ of the Andromeda galaxy; though this ring too may be caused by a satellite galaxy moving through the Andromeda galaxy as indicated by big bang astronomers). End October 25 2005]
Measurements by astronomers have given a strong indication that the halos of galaxies are flattened, like a rubber ball compressed to half its size. They've found that the halos are up to five times bigger than the galaxies themselves⁸⁸.The dark matter distribution in the form of a flattened halo may be explained by old (blackened) stars that have not been refuelled with gas and the old sphere of (former luminous) stars may have become flattened because of the rotation by the universal engine in the center of the galaxy. (Though, there also have been reports that the dark matter distribution around the Milky Way is spherical ¹¹⁵ (4-4).) Of course, when ellipticals can change into spirals by blackening stars in the outer regions of ellipticals, thus creating a dark matter halo by blackened stars then ellipticals will have halos too with dark matter (dark matter halos which are smaller compared to the luminous part of the elliptical galaxy relative to the dark matter halos/luminous part galaxy - ratio of spirals). (Elliptical galaxies have dark matter halos too.) End July 2004]

[January 30 2008: Astronomers have found brilliant blue clusters of stars. The clusters weigh tens of thousands of solar masses. They are more massive than most open clusters found inside galaxies but a fraction of the mass of globular star clusters that orbit a galaxy. The mystery is that the blue star clusters are found along a wispy bridge of gas strung among three colliding galaxies, M81 (spiral galaxy), M82 (spiral galaxy), and NGC 3077, residing approximately 12 million light-years from Earth. This is not the place astronomers expect to find star clusters: in intergalactic space. Blue star clusters like this have never been seen in detail before in such sparse locations, the researchers say⁴⁷³.
In an infinite universe where clusters of galaxies shrink and darken and later light up with new gas you expect to have old darkened stars surrounding galaxies. Where multiple galaxies are close to each other their halos of old dark stars get together and so you get a place where more dark matter is. More matter attracts more gas. The gas then lights up old darkened stars. In such a model you expect (blue) stars lightning up in areas where galaxies get close to each other. The same goes for areas between clusters (4-1). End January 30 2008]

[January 2005: When clouds of gas or smaller galaxies approach a big galaxy from far away then this approach may be likely to happen by orbiting the major galaxy in ever smaller circles. The major galaxy rotates and so the smaller objects, like gas clouds/smaller galaxies, may be likely to end up orbiting in a plane that is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the major galaxy (the same may be the case with solar system formation, 7-1, as well as cluster formation, 4-4). This too may be part of the explanation of disk formation within spiral galaxies. End January 2005]

Hydrogen (clouds) may flow faster than dust towards the universal engine (4-3) and therefore we may find more dust in spirals than in ellipticals, more dust in Sb spirals than in Sa spirals, more dust in Sc spirals than in Sb spirals. But, of course, the reason for higher dust content in those galaxies will also be: supernovae and more clashing of (more concentrated) dark matter objects in a spiral galaxy.

Nuclei in Sc-spirals are smaller than in Sa and Sb spirals⁸, which may be due to shrinking during Sa and Sb phases.

[March 31 2005: How much a star gets flattened may depend on the rotation of heavy metal cores inside stars, i.e. the mass and rotational speed of a heavy metal core may shape the stars gas that surrounds the core (7-1). The mass and rotation of the nuclear bulge of galaxies may shape galaxies. Perhaps that the mass and rotation of a galactic center may make a difference when it comes to wether a galaxy will turn into an elliptical or a spiral, or wether an elliptical will turn into a spiral or into an AGN. End March 31 2005]

[May 2003: "There are many examples of double cosmic objects, but the question why has not even be asked, much less an answer is attempted." Arp in Seeing Red²⁹.

The Hubble Deep Field picture, a ten-day exposure obtained with the Wide-Field Camera-2 on the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1995, shows that 5% of all its objects are binary systems²⁹, where for nearby galaxies the percentage of binary systems is 0.9%. With Deep Field objects being old (instead of young as thought with current big bang cosmology) this is easy to understand: old systems tend to be in binary systems. End May 2003]

[February 13 2006: Astronomers have long known that massive, bright stars, including stars like the sun, are most often found to be in multiple star systems. This fact led to the notion that most stars in the universe are multiples. However, more recent studies targeted at low-mass stars have found that these fainter objects rarely occur in multiple systems. Astronomers have known for some time that such low-mass stars, also known as red dwarfs or M stars, are considerably more abundant in space than high-mass stars. Among very massive stars, known as O- and B-type stars, 80 percent of the systems are thought to be multiple, but these very bright stars are exceedingly rare. Slightly more than half of all the fainter, sun-like stars are multiples. However, only about 25 percent of red dwarf stars have companions. Combined with the fact that about 85 percent of all stars that exist in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, the inescapable conclusion is that upwards of two-thirds of all star systems in the Galaxy consist of single, red dwarf stars³⁹⁹.
Throughout this website it is argued that small stars shine, blacken, cool down, attract new hydrogen, light up until they blacken and cool down again so they can attract new hydrogen, etc (7-1). This way low-mass stars can be seen as young stars. Young stars have had less time to form binaries. This may explain why most red dwarf stars are single and why more massive stars have a higher chance of being part of a binary system. End February 13 2006]

Our Galaxy plus the Andromeda galaxy is a binary system. Sagittarius B in the galactic nucleus of our Milky Way appears to be a binary system and this binary system (Sagittarius B) is part of a larger binary system with Sagittarius A.
Perhaps in the very far future our Local Group may become the nucleus of a new galaxy with M31 (Andromeda galaxy) and M33 as a binary system itself (i.e. shrunk M31 versus shrunk M33) forming a larger binary system with our (shrunk) Galaxy.

Thus in the very far future our Galaxy may be in the center of a future galactic nucleus like Sagittarius A* may be an old galaxy in the center of the nucleus of our Milky Way. I think in this respect the similarities between our Local Group and the galactic nucleus of our Milky Way are striking.

Bigger clusters are part of superclusters which may be part of super-superclusters, but: a smaller cluster like our Local Group may have an older but originally bigger cluster in the hearts of M31, M33 and the Milky Way, i.e. the multiple galactic nuclei inside M31, M33 and the Milky Way.
And: if we ever are able to look deeper into Sagittarius A* we may find that there are remnants of an even older and thus originally even bigger cluster in the very core of Sagittarius A*.
[July 2003: In the center of Sgr A West, the region just around Sgr A*, lies an infrared cluster (of objects)⁸. This infrared cluster may consist of very old shrunk galaxies, older than Sgr A*. End July 2003]

[May 2003: Looking at galaxy/cluster maps reveals that also clusters may show the same binary systems: 2 smaller clusters orbiting each other versus one bigger cluster that orbits with the two smaller clusters in a larger binary system (the Virgo cluster may be an example of such a 2-to-1 system). This would only be logic if systems like our Milky Way versus M31/M33 and Sagittarius A versus Sagittarius B (with Sagittarius B consisting of 2 smaller systems) are common.

Thus it may be that there are always bigger clusters to be found which show the same binary systems: superclusters (the Coma supercluster may be an example of such a 2-to-1 system), supersuperclusters, etc. Then also AGNs may often be found to be part of such binary systems, that is if AGNs originate from universal engines as pointed out in 5-1.
[June 2003: An example of a system with many 2-to-1 AGN systems may be the starburst/AGN galaxy NGC 3628 which has conspicuous many (15) QSOs surrounding it (5-4). End June 2003]

I call the here described binary systems 2-to-1 systems. Our Galaxy and M31/M33 would thus be a 2-to-1 galaxy system, the Sagittarius A/B system a 2-to-1 nucleus system, the Virgo cluster a 2-to-1 cluster system and the Coma supercluster a 2-to-1 supercluster system.
[June 2003: And: there may be 2-to-1 AGN systems (5-4). End June 2003]

Arp also found that the excess (or: intrinsic) redshifts of the other galaxies in nearby clusters range from 50 to 300 km/s²⁹. Those velocities are of the magnitude of our Sun orbiting the Galaxy. From Arp's book I calculate that the shrinking of our Galaxy may be in the order of 100 km/s. (Which would be a bit frightening, for 100 km/s would bring our Solar system to the center of our Galaxy in about a billion years, though the shrinking will probably become less closer to the center of a spiral galaxy.)

The Earth has a velocity of about 260 km/s with respect to the cosmic background radiation. Perhaps part of the 260 km/s can be due to shrinking of our Galaxy (and/or shrinking of our Local Supercluster) (4-2).

Arp found that in clusters the smaller galaxies have systematically higher redshifts than the larger galaxies. This may be because the smaller galaxies have a less strong universal engine (4-3, 4-4).
With a “weak” (and slow rotating) universal engine in the center of such galaxies the stars may orbit not fast (if at all) around the galactic center and hence may fall faster to the galactic center than the stars in bigger galaxies, which may explain the higher intrinsic redshift of smaller galaxies.
(Perhaps it becomes different when one talks about faint galaxies instead of small galaxies. Perhaps certain faint galaxies have become faint because they are old galaxies with much rotating dark matter in the center and few luminous stars left. Such a galaxy may or may not be likely to shrink fast, see hereafter.) Also: such galaxies may have many stars with intrinsic redshift, see hereafter.

Stars have intrinsic redshift themselves too: bright blue stars show excess redshift²⁹ (which easily can be explained with gravitational redshift, 6-2), which may account for (part of) the intrinsic redshift of galaxies too.
For instance: according to Arp late type spirals have systematically higher redshifts than early type spirals²⁹. In 4-4 it is pointed out that late type spirals have more and heavier dark matter objects than early type spirals. This then will originate stars with higher intrinsic redshifts (6-2) which then may cause the higher redshifts of late type spirals. (Another reason may be: late type spirals have lost much of their rotational velocity (4-3) and thus late type spirals may shrink faster.)
Also: massive central galaxies have large amounts of Population II stars. Population II stars have smaller heavy-element-nuclei (7-1), hence Population II stars may have lower intrinsic (gravitational) redshifts, which thus may explain the lower redshifts of the largest galaxies in the center of nearby clusters too.

So when we measure the redshift of a galaxy we may have to think about:

1. Tired light redshift (1-2)
2. Peculiar velocity of galaxy (4-1)
3. Shrinking of galaxy (4-3)
4. Gravitational redshift by stars (6-2)   End May 2003]

Not only dust, but also dark matter objects are attracted by universal engines. As pointed out in 4-1: there may be dark matter objects in all kind of magnitudes and concentrations everywhere in the universe. This may, for example, account for the globular clusters that are spinning around the disk of our Galaxy. Globular clusters may origin from old (small) heaps of (small, hence Population II) dark matter objects that have attracted hydrogen and started to “burn” hydrogen, thus becoming luminous, while keeping their original paths much stronger than the hydrogen flows, because the old dark massive objects will be less “directed” by the “gravitational grip” of our Galaxy (3-2), which may explain the different orbits of globular clusters relative to the mainstream orbits of stars in the arms of our Galaxy. (Though: the difference between globular clusters and the spiral arms of our Galaxy may be more likely to be predominantly due to: spiral arms being formed out of an old elliptical galaxy and globular clusters being old small galaxies that have been swallowed by the Milky Way, 4-4.)

High-velocity hydrogen clouds, nearly all exhibiting velocities of approach to our Galaxy, have been subjects of intense debate⁸. The gas moves faster (is attracted faster) than stars.
Hydrogen may stream (or rather: accelerate) faster than dust and dust may stream (or accelerate) faster than dark matter objects with gravity as a pushing force (3-2).

Dark matter (in large pieces, larger than dust which is also dark matter) may approach the galaxy even slower than dust and hence there may be a lot of dark matter in the halo of our Galaxy.

Dark matter objects in the halo and gas streaming through the halo to our Galaxy may provide a natural explanation to the current riddle why some young stars are found high up in the halo of our own Milky Way galaxy, far from the star-forming clouds in the main plane²⁶.

Scientists have observed clouds of ionized gas around young, massive stars - like the HII regions in the Milky Way - in intracluster space, i.e. between clusters of galaxies²⁶. Such star formation regions are very unusual in intracluster space for big bang astronomy. In an infinite universe model much dark matter as well as hydrogen floats in intracluster space. Thus star formation regions in intercluster space are easily explained in an infinite universe model.

Hydrogen in intergalactic space is optically even more thin and thus may only be seen when it is concentrated enough, for instance in intergalactic space within a cluster. A (conventional) model for X-ray emission observations in clusters shows evidence of intergalactic (ionized hydrogen) gas in clusters, with the gas having a total mass that is 10 to 20 times greater than the mass of the stars in all the cluster galaxies⁸.

[June 2004: Right now it is thought that one-fifth of the optically invisible mass of a cluster is in the form of a diffuse very hot gas with a temperature of the order of several tens of millions of degrees, therefore clusters of galaxies produce powerful X-ray emission¹⁷⁹. End June 2004]

[June 2004: Recently big bang astronomers have found important new evidence to support unexpectedly large-scale “galactic winds” which they consider to blow off of galaxies, altering their surroundings out to distances much farther than previously thought. Galactic winds are streams of charged particles and they are detected in both visible light and X-ray light on scales that are sometimes much larger than the galaxies themselves. The team examined the galactic winds surrounding 10 galaxies. Located between 20 and 900 million light years from Earth, the galaxies are in different galaxy clusters and none are in our Milky Way Galaxy's Local Group cluster. These galactic winds could be detected because collisions among the charged particles create electromagnetic energy emissions in the form of X rays, visible light and radio waves. These emissions are not uniform in the regions around the galaxies. Rather, they are clumpy filaments of emissions surrounding galaxies in irregular bubble-shaped regions out to at least 65,000 light years from the galaxy centers. They found that these winds have a very large zone of influence and probably a strong impact not only on the host galaxy but also on scales in excess of 65,000 light years, possibly well out into the intergalactic medium. The team thinks that the findings mean any comprehensive understanding of long-term galaxy evolution must take into account the flow of gaseous material out of, and back into, the galaxy. The team explained that such a return “rain” would contribute to the re-enrichment of the host galaxy itself and that the flow of warm gas back into galaxies is very important to understanding the rate at which new stars form. As for the implications to the Milky Way, the team thinks that the findings for these far away galaxies suggest our Galaxy has its own galactic wind that is creating large-scale bubbles of material around it. Previous findings for the Milky Way have shown direct evidence for a galactic-scale wind at a variety of wavelengths¹⁶¹.
Big bang astronomers think that galactic winds result from two sources: stars and actively feeding (accreting) giant black holes lurking at the centers of most galaxies. In the first case, the winds are primarily produced by a combination of the stellar winds blowing off massive stars during their youth and by the titanic explosions by supernovae that mark their death. Winds produced by these stars are referred to as “starburst-driven”. In the second case, enormous (supermassive) and active black holes lurking in the hearts of their host galaxies generate galactic winds radio loud AGNs and the winds they produce are referred to as “AGN-driven“¹⁶¹.
I think that hydrogen produced by radio loud AGNs (not by “big bang black holes”, 5-2) streaming through intergalactic and, especially, intercluster space is the basic thing that is overlooked here by the big bang astronomers (I guess gas can be thrown out of galaxies by the mentioned processes, but there is also gas coming from intergalactic/intercluster space to consider). Still, their results are a confirmation of my prediction that there should be intergalactic gas surrounding galaxies. But rather than such intergalactic gas being spit out by the galaxies themselves I think that the gas should be looked upon as coming out of intergalactic and, especially, intercluster space streaming to clusters (and their galaxies), thus fuelling (luminous) galaxies (as well as dark galaxies/g-galaxies) with new gas that triggers star-bursts.
Though, hydrogen production by radio loud AGN activity (by relatively small AGNs) may also support the galaxies within the (super)clusters in which the AGNs are situated (5-4). End June 2004]

[January 21 2006: Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton observatory have found very hot gaseous halos around a multitude of spiral galaxies similar to our Milky Way galaxy. These 'ghost-like' veils have been suspected for decades but remained elusive until now. The big bang astronomers think that the halo gas has been thrown out of the galaxies because of star formation.
The scientists say that the observations do not support a recent model of galaxy halo formation, in which gas from the intergalactic medium rains down on the galaxy and forms the halo³⁸⁴. However, throughout this website it is mentioned that spiral galaxies are relatively old galaxies (often) descending from elliptical galaxies. So where one may expect intergalactic gas (still) flowing towards (young) ellipticals it may often be so that in the case of (old) spiral galaxies the stream of intergalactic gas flowing towards the galaxy has dried up. End January 21 2006]

[July 2004: Data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite were used to identify about 50 clouds of gas, or fog banks, surrounding our galaxy in every direction. According to the team of researchers the warm clouds were almost certainly part of the Local Group of galaxies. The team thinks that it is most likely that the material of the fog banks is material left over from the galaxy formation process²¹⁴.
They may be right, but it may be more likely that the material of the fog banks came out of intercluster space. Our Local Group continually may be getting fuelled by new hydrogen/gas coming out of intercluster space, streaming towards the Local Group by gravitational forces. Though, at a certain moment intercluster space may be “swept clean”, i.e. in case that the major amount of hydrogen/gas in our local supercluster was produced by very strong radio loud AGN activity (5-2) in the past indeed it may be so that this hydrogen/gas reservoir may become depleted at a certain stage. End July 2004]

There is no evidence so far for much gas between the clusters⁸.
Gas flowing into a cluster gets concentrated and hence may be observed. Gas between clusters may be optically too thin for (today's) observation techniques, but there may be very much (optically very thin) hydrogen gas in intercluster space.

[August 2004: Gas in clusters has long been observed. Big bang astronomers look at the gas in the Abell 2125 cluster as conspicuous for its lack of iron atoms²⁴⁹. The gas may have been produced by radio loud AGN activity (5-2) and finally may have streamed into the Abell 2125 cluster, thus having little iron atoms. End August 2004]

[February 2005: Chandra observations has showed two separate clouds of hot gas at distances from Earth of 150 million light years and 370 million light years. The X-ray data show that ions of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon are present, and that the temperatures of the clouds are about 1 million degrees Celsius. Combining these data with observations at ultraviolet wavelengths enabled to estimate the thickness (about 2 million light years) of the intergalactic clouds of diffuse hot gas²⁷⁷.
So, no iron.
The gas in such clouds may come from radio loud AGN activity and may have concentrated itself thanks to old darkened galaxies within the clouds. End February 2005]

Velocities of orbiting stars in general may go down when a galaxy goes from the Sa to the Sb, Sc, etc. phase because the rotation of the universal engine may be slowed down when it brings stars in the galaxy into rotation (7-1). And: inertial forces by gravity (3-2) may slow down the velocity of stars.

In the case of the sole peak of the Sa spiral in Fig. 4-3-II: stars are attracted by the Galactic nucleus and rotate at a certain distance with a certain rotational velocity (= Sa-peak) of the nucleus. Further away from the nucleus the rotational velocity may not have caught up (yet) with the Sa-peak and thus further away from the nucleus the rotation velocity may be slower.
[February 2004: One may wonder why the velocity of the Sa peak goes down near the nucleus. Perhaps this can be explained by very strong inertial forces: 3-2 and Fig. 3-2-VI. End February 2004]

What has happened if the spiral is older and in its Sb/Sc phase? The universal engine of the Sa galaxy may have lost energy to the stars/matter outside the nuclear bulge and thus the momentum of the engine may have become smaller. And: the first peak of the Sb/Sc galaxies may be lower because the stars/matter at that distance from the nuclei of the galaxies may have attracted other stars/matter that are further away, bringing those stars/matter to faster rotational velocities.
Meanwhile the rotation of the universal engine may have been diminished: when the universal engine gives energy to stars in the galaxy then at the same time the stars in the galaxy slow down the universal engine.
Therefore: at the same distance from the nucleus where first the high Sa-peak was we now may get a lower rotational velocity and further away from the nucleus the Sb/Sc rotational velocity peaks may be faster relative to the first peak.

Between the peaks of the Sb/Sc phase in Fig. 4-3-II there may be lower rotational velocities (valley's) because where the engine in the nucleus speeds up the mass outside the nucleus, the rotation of the nucleus may be slowed down (for a while).
For a while because at a certain moment mass of the former Sa rotational velocity peak may come that close to the universal engine that it enlarges the rotational velocity/momentum of the universal engine. Thus we may see “valleys and peaks” in Fig. 4-3-II for the Sb and Sc spirals.

The moment where the line in Fig. 4-3-I starts to be horizontal (at 13 kpc) may say something about the age of our Galaxy (or the age of galaxies in general), because: the distance from the Galactic nucleus to the point where the line starts to go horizontal will be proportional to the time the Galactic nucleus “had its time” to influence rotational velocities of mass in the Galaxy in a certain way (by “peak-valley-formation”).
(Of course, things like the strength of the universal engine and the amount/distribution of mass in the Galaxy has to be taken into account too when one tries to figure out the ages of galaxies.)
[February 2004: Of course, there are many kinds of rotation curves of galaxies next to the ones shown in Fig. 4-3-II. I have just given some ways of reasoning concerning the specific curves in Fig. 4-3-II. And: gas clouds, globular clusters (or small galaxies) and dark matter falling into the galaxy will influence the rotation curves of galaxies too. So I guess the arguing that has been given here to explain some specific rotation curves of some galaxies should only be seen as possible ways of beginning to understand rotation curves. End February 2004]

A stronger universal engine originates more and brighter stars with higher spatial density and hence the luminosity is higher (also because more and bigger dark matter objects are likely to surround/accompany a strong universal engine).
A stronger universal engine gets a stronger grip on the velocity of the stars and hence the rotation is stronger too.
Thus luminosity and rotation may be correlated.

Current astronomy explains the Tully-Fisher relationship by: both luminosity and rotation of the spiral galaxy are determined by the mass of the spiral galaxy⁸. This does not make sense if one can not explain what causes the rotation rates of spirals nor what causes the mass/luminosity magnitudes of spirals.

Universal engines of all kind of mass magnitude and rotation speed embedded in the cores of spirals may explain why we see spiral galaxies with different rotation speeds. The ratio between the strength of a universal engine and the amount of hydrogen it has attracted will be important too in this respect.