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Galaxies have different shapes because of what happens throughout their lives. Any galaxy, at one point or another, will encounter another or many galaxies. When encounters occur, gravity takes over. The larger of the two galaxies will consume the smaller one, this is called galactic cannibalism. The act of absorbing another galaxy will change the size of the galaxy it's shape and even the speed of its rotation. Our own galaxy, The Milky Way, is as large it is (100000-150000 Light years across.) because of galactic cannibalism. The Milky Way is as we speak consuming two other small galaxy. And in about 2 billion years, our nearest nieghbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, will collide with our galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Adromeda galaxy are spiral galaxies, but after they collide the resulting new galaxy will an elliptical galaxy, which looks like a bright white sphere.
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MaxineThe four general shapes of galaxies are spiral, elliptical, irregular, and lenticular. Spiral galaxies have a central bulge with arms that spiral outwards, elliptical galaxies are more rounded and typically lack distinct structure, irregular galaxies lack a defined shape, and lenticular galaxies have a disk structure like spirals but lack the spiral arms.
The main types of galaxies are Spiral galaxies, Elliptical galaxies, Lenticular galaxies, and Irregular galaxies.
- Spiral (and Barred-Spiral) galaxies are shaped like pinwheels, with arms that spiral outward. The barred spiral has an elongated bar shape across the middle. Examples of the spiral are our own Milky Way and Andromeda. A barred spiral is the Sculptor Galaxy.
- Elliptical galaxies look like flattened spheres rather than the thinner spiral form. They are observed to have comparatively little interstellar matter. An example is the Maffei 1 galaxy.
- Lenticular galaxies are flattened galaxies without an obvious spiral structure. An example is the Spindle Galaxy in Draco.
- Irregular galaxies do not have any of the common shapes, and may have been disrupted by various forces. These include Hoag's Galaxy (a ring), the Magellanic Clouds, and NGC 1427A (which is speeding toward the Fornax cluster).
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Spiral galaxies are shaped like large flattened disks that spin around a central super-massive nucleus.
Barred spiral galaxies are similar to standard spiral galaxies, except that the spiral arms emanate from a large central column, or bar, that straddles the galactic core.
Elliptical galaxies have no discernible central core, and they appear to be ellipsoid, or spherical, in overall shape.
Irregular galaxies appear in many chaotic shapes and have little to no overall internal structure.
There are 35 galaxies in the so-called "Local Group" The three largest galaxies are the Milky Way (our own), and the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies. However, most of the visible stars we see are part of the Milky Way and two nearby dwarf galaxies, the "Small Magellanic Cloud" and the "Large Magellenic Cloud". There are 10 other dwarf galaxies near the Milky Way.
A galaxy is 99.9% always flat and circular, you may find an odd shaped galaxy that has been affected by gravitational forces caused by a nearby Black Hole. Each Galaxy has 2 spikes of radiation that shoot out from the top and bottom from the middle of the galaxy, in the very centre of a galaxy is a black hole, the galaxy spins because of the extreme mass of gravitational force from within the black hole, if you look at the close resemblance between a black hole and a galaxy you will notice that a black hole is just a dead galaxy which has consumed itself.
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What different shapes do galaxies form?
Galaxies can form different shapes including spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Spiral galaxies have a distinct spiral arm structure, elliptical galaxies are more rounded and oval-shaped, while irregular galaxies lack a defined shape.
What galaxies are massive blobs of stars?
Elliptical galaxies are massive blobs of stars characterized by their round or ellipsoidal shapes. These galaxies are composed mainly of older stars and have little to no ongoing star formation activity.
What galaxies are nebulas found?
Nebulas are found in all types of galaxies, including spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies. They are regions of dense dust and gas where new stars are formed. The variety of shapes and sizes of nebulas contribute to the diversity of galaxies in the universe.
In which direction are mostly all galaxies moving?
Actually, most galaxies are all moving away from all other galaxies, not just from ours. The exception is the Andromeda galaxy, with which the Milky Way is on a collision course.
Edwin Hubble categorized galaxies according to their?
Shape, or morph. The spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, lenticular, barred spiral, and irregular galaxies all are different shapes or morphs of galaxies, and so they are classified differently.
