Types Of Galaxies: Elliptical Galaxy, Spiral Galaxy, Irregular Galaxy

Join Our Official Telegram Channel

Essentially, a galaxy is a collection of gas, dust, stars, and solar systems bound together by gravity. The Milky Way is what you see when you look up at stars at night. Different types of galaxies exist, including spiral, elliptical, and irregular, which differ in their shape, size, and types of stars.

Galaxies are massive collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter held together by gravity. The word galaxy comes from the Greek word galaxies, which means milky, as in the Milky Way galaxy, which includes our Solar System.

Spiral galaxies, such as the Milky Way, have a central bulge of older stars and spiral arms that contain young, hot stars and large amounts of gas and dust.

The elliptical galaxy has a more spherical shape and contains mainly older stars. In contrast, an irregular galaxy lacks a definite form and has a smaller and less massive mass than a spiral galaxy.

The Milky Way can see even if those lights from cities and houses are far from the sky. Types Of Galaxies. Check This: Volume Of Cube

Luminous objects that are held together by gravity, called galaxies, are clusters of stars. Astronomical images of the distant universe reveal over 100 billion galaxies, each exhibiting beautiful structures.

How many stars in the milky way

10,000 crores – 40,000 crores

Types Of Galaxies

Types Of Galaxies

Elliptical Galaxy:

These Elliptical galaxies are similar to spheres in shape because old stars dominate their formation. No spiral arms in them. Reddish stars dominate the light from these galaxies.

There are many globular clusters in the nearby more giant ellipticals. Elliptical galaxies contain a small interstellar matter, but they do not typically include dust or emission nebulae.

Various degrees of flattening observe for elliptical galaxies, from those that are roughly spherical to those that are flat like spirals. Massive ellipticals can reach luminosities of 1011 LSuns.

An elliptical giant can contain a mass of up to 1013 suns. A few hundred thousand light-years are the diameter of these large galaxies, far greater than the diameter of the giant spiral galaxies.

In contrast to spiral galaxies, ellipsoidal galaxies contain stars whose orbits do not follow a constant path.

Because ellipticals do not rotate systematically, it is difficult to determine how much dark matter they contain. Read Also: How Far Away Is The Andromeda Galaxy

Spiral Galaxy:

Large spiral galaxies like Andromeda and our galaxy are typical spirals. The spiral arms, a halo, and the central bulge of these structures are all visible. Most spiral galaxies have material scattered across their disks.

A variety of emission nebula and young, hot stars are most visible in the spiral arms, which indicates that new stars are still forms.

When we see galaxies face-on, they appear more like pinwheels on July 4th, thanks to their bright stars and emission nebulae.

The arms of spiral galaxies may contain open star clusters, while in their halos are often seen globular clusters.

In the Milky Way, there is a mixture of old and young stars, just like in spiral galaxies. Spiral arms appear to trail like the wake of a boat since they spin in the same direction as shafts.

We have a modest bar on our galaxy as well. Its spiral arms generally start at its ends. There is sometimes a long-term process involved in the formation of bars in spiral galaxies.

Irregular Galaxy:

The terms “irregular galaxy” and “non-regular galaxy” Hubble used to classify galaxies that did not fit the described categories.

Typically, irregular galaxies are smaller and have lower luminous masses than spiral galaxies.

There is usually some form of disorganization in irregular galaxies, and they often undergo high levels of star formation. Young population I stars coexist with older population II stars in irregular galaxies.

There are two well-known irregular galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, which can be found at about 160,000 light-years away and are among our nearest extragalactic neighbors.

First noticed by European travelers Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their round-the-world journey, these islands received their names.

These two systems appear as wispy clouds from the Southern Hemisphere, even though they are not visible from the United States and Europe.

Since they are only about a tenth as far away as the Andromeda galaxy, they present an excellent opportunity for astronomers to study nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, and other vital objects in the context of another universe.

What is the Milky Way Galaxy

What is the Milky Way Galaxy

A few hundred billion stars make up the Milky Way Galaxy sizeable spiral galaxy. Observations from Earth show an irregularly shaped band of stars and gas clouds called the Milky Way.

The Milky Way Galaxy contains the Earth, but astronomers know very little about its nature compared to other external star systems.

Much of the galaxy is obscure by interstellar dust, and astronomers can only determine its large-scale structure by radio or infrared telescopes, which can see through the material.

Gravitational forces bind stars, gas, and dust into galaxies. We call our galaxy’s appearance as a band of light the Milky Way.

Galaxies can classify into several types. We have one of many barred spiral galaxies in the Milky Way.