What are some names of irregular galaxies?
What are some names of irregular galaxies?
The best known examples of irregular galaxies are the Small and Large Magellanic clouds. These are companion galaxies to our own Milky Way, and can be easily seen at dark sites in the Southern Hemisphere. The Large (left) and Small (right) Magellanic clouds are prime examples of irregular galaxies.
Is Milky Way a spiral galaxy?
The Milky Way is a huge collection of stars, dust and gas. It’s called a spiral galaxy because if you could view it from the top or bottom, it would look like a spinning pinwheel. The Sun is located on one of the spiral arms, about 25,000 light-years away from the center of the galaxy.
Is the Andromeda galaxy a spiral galaxy?
Andromeda, also known as Messier 31 (M31), is a spiral galaxy located about 2.5 million light years away.
What does elliptical galaxies contain?
Elliptical galaxies are ellipsoidal in shape, contain no spiral arms, contain little interstellar gas or dust, and are found mostly in rich clusters of galaxies. Elliptical galaxies appear typically yellow-red, as opposed to spirals which have spiral arms that appear quite blue.
Are irregular galaxies rare?
About 20% of all galaxies are irregulars.
How does a lenticular galaxy look?
When viewed edge-on, lenticular galaxies (alternatively called S0 galaxies) have a shape reminiscent of a lens (hence the alternative name). Located at the fork in the Hubble classification diagram and labelled S0 or SB0, they have a structure that appears intermediate between elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies.
How is a lenticular galaxy formed?
So, as an alternative, some astronomers now suggest that lenticular galaxies are the result of mergers between two old, spiral galaxies. This would explain the disk structure and the lack of free gas. Also, with the combined mass of two galaxies, the higher surface brightness would be explained.
