How long is the elliptical galaxy?
Table of Contents
Elliptical galaxies have a broader range in size than other types of galaxies. The smallest are dwarf elliptical galaxies, which can be less than 10 percent of the size of the Milky Way. But ellipticals can also stretch to more than a million light-years across, and contain more than ten trillion stars.
What is an example of an elliptical galaxy?
Examples. M87 (NGC 4486), whose supermassive black hole is the first black hole to be imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope. IC 1101, one of the largest galaxies in the observable universe. Maffei 1, the closest giant elliptical galaxy.
What is the flattest elliptical galaxy?
The flattest are called E7 galaxies. The ones in between are given numbers from E1 to E6. The system is useful because it tells us how a galaxy looks through a telescope. This picture is of an elliptical galaxy called Messier 59 (SEDS Archive).
Can life exist in an elliptical galaxy?
ABSTRACT. Based on numbers of stars, supernova rates, and metallicity, a prior study concluded that large elliptical galaxies contain up to 10 000 times more habitable planets than the Milky Way and are thus the ‘cradles of life’.
What do elliptical galaxies do?
Unlike their spiral cousins, elliptical galaxies have shut down their star formation engines. Devoid of much of the needed gas and dust, they no longer create new stars. Instead, they hold tightly to ancient stars that have lived for billions of years.
Is the Sun part of an elliptical galaxy?
Our Sun (a star) and all the planets around it are part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way Galaxy. A galaxy is a large group of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Milky Way is a large barred spiral galaxy.
How old is the average elliptical galaxy?
between 7 and 10 billion years old
The accepted belief on the mass assembly history of massive elliptical galaxies based on their stellar population leads to an age between 7 and 10 billion years old.
What are 3 characteristics of an elliptical galaxy?
There are four distinguishing characteristics of the ellipticals: (a) they have much more random star motion than orderly rotational motion (star orbits are aligned in a wide range of angles and have a wide range of eccentricities); (b) they have very little dust and gas left between the stars; (c) this means that they …
What is the age of an elliptical galaxy?
What is the average age of an elliptical galaxy? Elliptical galaxies are often some of the oldest galaxies in our night sky – they tend to range anywhere between 7 billion and 10 billion years old.
How does a elliptical galaxy look?
Elliptical galaxies are shaped like ellipses (stretched circles). They are divided into eight types: E0-E7 depending on how elliptical they are. E0 ellipticals are nearly circular, while E7s are very stretched out. Elliptical galaxies are made up of mostly old stars, and do not have much gas and dust.
Are elliptical galaxies older than spiral galaxies?
The typical ages of the stellar populations of elliptical and spiral galaxies provide evidence for this theory, because the stars in elliptical galaxies are typically much older and redder than those in spiral galaxies.
What is an elliptical galaxy?
Elliptical galaxies lack the swirling arms of their more well-known siblings, spiral galaxies. Instead, they bear the rounded shape of an ellipse, a stretched-out circle. One of the most famous elliptical galaxies is Cygnus A, which is located roughly 600 million light-years from Earth and is an extremely bright radio source.
What is the smallest elliptical galaxy in the universe?
The smallest are dwarf elliptical galaxies, which can be less than 10 percent of the size of the Milky Way. But ellipticals can also stretch to more than a million light-years across, and contain more than ten trillion stars. M87, identified as one of the largest galaxies in the universe, is classified as an E0 elliptical galaxy.
How many stars are in an elliptical galaxy?
AN ELLIPTICAL GALAXY’S ETHEREAL GLOW 26 27 Seeing Star Formation in Elliptical Galaxies Hubble’s high resolution and ultraviolet vision have revealed brilliant knots of hot, blue stars forming along the jets of active black holes at the centers of giant elliptical galaxies.
Why are elliptical galaxies the last galaxies to evolve?
Because elliptical galaxies contain older stars and less gas, scientists think that they are nearing the end of the evolution line for galaxies. The universe is a violent place, and collisions between galaxies are frequent — indeed, the Milky Way is due to crash into the Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years.