A prime example is the galaxy pair shown at the right. The larger galaxy (M51) in this pair of galaxies is obviously physically connected to its small companion galaxy. The redshift value of the small companion is vastly greater than the redshift of the larger (parent) galaxy. Mainstream astronomers presently are either ignoring this fact or denying that there is any physical connection between the larger and smaller members of the pair. They say the high redshift companion must be "well behind" its parent (because of this difference in their redshift values). That they are obviously physically connected is claimed to be an "illusion".Then there's the matter of the number of light-absorbing hydrogen clouds in front of each, a matter determined by the Lyman-Alpha forest in the spectra. Inevitably, the most red-shifted object has the greatest number of distinct hydrogen clouds in the way.
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Title:
Combinatorics and companion galaxies: Paradox lost Authors:
Newman, William I.; Terzian, Yervant Affiliation:
AAUniv. of California, Los Angeles, CA, US ABCornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, US Journal:
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 441, no. 2, p. 505-506 (ApJ Homepage) Publication Date:
03/1995 Category:
Astrophysics Origin:
STI NASA/STI Keywords:
COMBINATORIAL ANALYSIS, GALACTIC CLUSTERS, INTERACTING GALAXIES, RED SHIFT, DISTANCE, PROBABILITY THEORY, SAMPLING Bibliographic Code:
1995ApJ...441..505N Abstract
Arp (1994) has presented redshift data for the Local Group of galaxies and for the next major group, whose largest galaxies are M31 and M81, respectively. He observed that the relative redshifts of all 22 of their companions were positive and claimed that the likelihood that this would occur is 1 in 4 x 106. We show using the classical combinatoric paradigm of ordered samples (without replacement) that the correct probability for the dominant member of each cluster to possess the lowest observed redshift is approximately 8%.