Abstract
Brown's results (1964, 1968) concerning the distribution of orientation angles of spiral galaxies in different areas of the sky are discussed and a graphical statistical test is applied. The deviations from randomness are found to be significant. It seems difficult to ascribe them to selection effects. It is shown that the observed distributions can be explained, if the angular momenta in greater aggregations of galaxies are distributed at random on congruent precession cones with parallel axes. This hypothesis may apply if the following cosmological conditions hold: For a rigid body approximation the equations of motion are derived and solved numerically. Approximate analytic solutions are also given. The precession period is in the range of 104 to 108 yr for plausible values of the parameters of the problem. The observed distributions in the four regions of the sky investigated are — via the precession hypothesis — compatible with a direction of the ‘urfield’ indicated by the work of Sofueet al. (1969) and Reinhardt and Thiel (1970) ofl II≈280°,b II≈+30° tol II≈100°,b II≈−30°.
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