The nature of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies in various classes based on morphology, colour and spectral features - I. Optical properties

We present a comprehensive study of the nature of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies divided into various classes based on their morphology, colour and spectral features. The SDSS galaxies are classified into early-type and late-type; red and blue; passive, H II, Seyfert and LINER, returning a total of 16 fine classes of galaxies. We examine the luminosity dependence of seven physical parameters of galaxies in each class. We find that more than half of red early-type galaxies (REGs) have star formation or active galactic nuclei activity, and that these active REGs have smaller axis ratio and bluer outside compared to the passive REGs. Blue early-type galaxies (BEGs) show structural features similar to those of REGs, but their centres are bluer than REGs. H II BEGs are found to have bluer centres than passive BEGs, but H II REGs have bluer outside than passive REGs. Bulge-dominated late-type galaxies have red colours. Passive red late-types are similar to REGs in several aspects. Most blue late-type galaxies (BLGs) have forming stars, but a small fraction of BLGs do not show evidence for current star formation activity. Differences of other physical parameters among different classes are inspected, and their implication on galaxy evolution is discussed.