Morphological Statistic of Milky Way-like Galaxies

Abstract

We analyze the spiral morphology of 1,738 nearby galaxies with similar Hubble type of the Milky Way ($i<60^\circ$, $z<0.048$) using multi-band optical images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Digitized Sky Survey. Multiple-arm systems dominate, comprising $\sim$50-60% of the sample and $\sim$75% of large galaxies ($d_{\rm max} \geqslant 18~\mathrm{kpc}$). In $90\pm3$% of multiple-arm galaxies, two inner arms extend into multiple outer arms; three-arm inner structures occur in $9\pm2$%, and four or more are rare ($<1$%). Morphology and inner-arm counts are consistent across bands at $\sim$80%. Bifurcation points, marking the transition from two inner arms to multiple outer arms, occur in up to $\sim$40% of galaxies, are more prominent in bluer bands tracing younger stellar populations, and cluster within 4-7~kpc of galaxy centers. These statistics suggest that the Milky Way's inner two-arm and outer multiple-arm morphology, including bifurcations at similar radii, is broadly consistent with that of a typical multiple-arm spiral galaxy.