Irr II galaxies on the other hand have no are perceivable shape to them. Irr I have some semblance of a shape, but not enough to be able to be placed in either the elliptical or spiral categories. Once this happened, the spiral shape was lost and their undiscernable shape emerged.īeing a galaxy also means they have a supermassive black hole at its center, and despite no concrete center point, it does seem to be case for the few irregular galaxies we’ve observed like NGC 6240 for example.Īs for the what the different types of irregular galaxies are, the hubble classification established that irregular galaxies can fall one of type categories, either an Irr I or an Irr II. What this means is that irregular galaxies might have initially been separate, distinct spiral galaxies that ended up colliding with one another. Irregular galaxies as their name would suggest, are galaxies distinguished by their unique shape and structure and make roughly 25% of all galaxies in the universe. In essence these galaxies don’t have a discernable shape like elliptical or spiral galaxies.Īlthough it isn’t quite clear how irregular galaxies were formed, there are a few hypothesis stating how they were made with the most common being that they were made as a result collisions between other galaxies.įurthermore, these galaxies are considered middle of the pack regards to age as they’re believed to be older than spiral galaxies but younger than elliptical galaxies. When specific sections of the sky are observed in depth, more elliptical galaxies tend to be found and if this pattern is repeated throughout the universe it would make them far more common. While more spiral galaxies have been identified by astronomers, elliptical galaxies are actually thought to be more numerous, if less flashy and visible. They can range from giant elliptical galaxies containing a trillion stars and measuring millions of light-years across, to dwarf elliptical galaxies which may be less than 10% the size of the Milky Way or even so small that our telescopes may struggle to detect them. The largest galaxies in the known universe are elliptical although not all elliptical galaxies are formed on this scale. The extent to which they are “squashed” is signified by classifying them from E0 (circular ball shape) to E7 (long, thin, cigar shape). Differences Between Elliptical And Irregular GalaxiesĮlliptical galaxies also named for their shape, being generally rounded and sometimes stretched more along one axis than another to give a cigar-type ellipse.Similartities Between Elliptical And Irregular Galaxies.Are Elliptical Galaxies Smaller Than Irregular Galaxies?.
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