Table of Contents
- 1 What describes an elliptical galaxy?
- 2 What do elliptical and spiral galaxies have in common?
- 3 How do giant elliptical galaxies form?
- 4 What does elliptical galaxies contain?
- 5 How are galaxy clusters formed?
- 6 How are open clusters formed?
- 7 What are some of the largest galaxy mergers ever observed?
- 8 What happens when an elliptical galaxy merges with another elliptical?
What describes an elliptical galaxy?
An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are preferentially found close to the centers of galaxy clusters. Elliptical galaxies range in size from tens of millions to over one hundred trillion stars.
What do elliptical and spiral galaxies have in common?
The bulge and halo consist mainly of older stars, where spiral arms have more gas, dust and younger stars. As their name suggests, elliptical galaxies are round or oval, with stars distributed fairly uniformly throughout. They have a bulge and halo, like spiral galaxies, but don’t have the flat disk of stars.
How globular clusters are formed?
Physics. Globular clusters formed from giant molecular clouds, or huge masses of gas that form stars as they collapse. Because there is less free gas available now than at the beginning of the universe, globular clusters generally cannot form today.
What is the part of a galaxy that has a lot of globular star clusters?
Globular clusters are found in nearly all galaxies. In spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, they are mostly found in the outer, spheroidal part of the galaxy—the galactic halo. Some clusters may have had multiple episodes of star formation, and some may be remnants of smaller galaxies captured by larger galaxies.
How do giant elliptical galaxies form?
When two spirals collide, they lose their familiar shape, morphing into the less-structured elliptical galaxies. A supermassive black hole is thought to lie at the center of these ancient galaxies. Born from collision, elliptical galaxies are more commonly found around clusters and groups of galaxies.
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.
How elliptical galaxies are formed?
When two spirals collide, they lose their familiar shape, morphing into the less-structured elliptical galaxies. A supermassive black hole is thought to lie at the center of these ancient galaxies. These gluttonous giants consume gas and dust, and may play a role in the slower growth of elliptical galaxies.
How do elliptical galaxies compared to spiral galaxies?
Spiral galaxies have a central bulge of stars surrounded by a disk that contains arms, which form a spiral structure. Elliptical galaxies don’t show any structure, but have a smooth ellipsoidal shape, appearing as a large spherical or elliptical ball of stars.
How are galaxy clusters formed?
Astronomers think that galaxy clusters form as clumps of dark matter and their associated galaxies are pulled together by gravity to form groups of dozens of galaxies, which in turn merge to form clusters of hundreds, even thousands of galaxies.
How are open clusters formed?
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way Galaxy, and many more are thought to exist.
Which term refers to large groupings of stars quizlet?
Terms in this set (10) Which term refers to large groupings of stars? nebulas.
Which star has the largest radius quizlet?
Antares is a red supergiant; its spectral type M means it is red, and its luminosity class I indicates a supergiant. Which star has the largest radius? Antares has the largest radius because it is the only supergiant on the list.
What are some of the largest galaxy mergers ever observed?
One of the largest galaxy mergers ever observed consisted of four elliptical galaxies in the cluster CL0958+4702. It may form one of the largest galaxies in the Universe. Galaxy mergers can be classified into distinct groups due to the properties of the merging galaxies, such as their number, their comparative size and their gas richness.
What happens when an elliptical galaxy merges with another elliptical?
Galaxy mergers with ellipticals could even produce weird hybrids, such as the Sombrero Galaxy. A 2012 examination by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope found that Sombrero is made up of one galaxy inside of another; the study reclassified Sombrero to an elliptical galaxy with a flat disk inside of it.
What is the largest elliptical galaxy in the universe?
M87, identified as one of the largest galaxies in the universe, is classified as an E0 elliptical galaxy. Astronomers have identified more spiral galaxies than ellipticals, but that’s simply because the spirals are easier to spot.
How do you classify galaxies that have merged?
Galaxy mergers can be classified into distinct groups due to the properties of the merging galaxies, such as their number, their comparative size and their gas richness. Mergers can be categorized by the number of galaxies engaged in the process: Two interacting galaxies merge. Three or more galaxies merge.