![]() The Hubble telescope has taken images of famous irregular galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds. These galaxies are often small and don’t have enough gravitational force to organize into a more regular form. The final galaxy shape is the irregular galaxy shape. Of the four galaxy shapes this is the most cohesive and organized. These types seldom have star forming areas. First they have few or no dust lanes and are largely composed of older mature stars. These types are the kinds that are the most similar. The next two types of galaxies are elliptical and lenticular shaped galaxies. One important fact about spiral galaxies is that young stars are formed in the outer arms while older stars are found near the center. Spiral galaxies can be tight or loose to varying degrees. It is basically the nucleus with its different “arms” spiraling outwards. This is because the Milky Way is a prime example of a spiral galaxy. In fact when most people think of a galaxy, this type of galaxy shape is the first to come to mind. Spiral galaxies are one of the most familiar galaxy shapes. Thanks to the work of famous astronomer Edwin Hubble we know that just about any galaxy in the universe will have one of 4 different shapes, spiral, elliptical, lenticular, and irregular. One aspect that was defined early was their shapes. Despite this astronomers have made great strides in learning more about the galaxies and their different characteristics. ![]() When you consider how many stars are just in our own galaxy you can get just a small idea how big our universe really is. Science revealed to us that universe as we know it, is composed of billions of galaxies like our own Milky Way. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |