Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. [1] Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, with neither a nuclear bulge nor any trace of spiral arm structure.
Dwarf galaxy. A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way 's 200–400 billion stars. [1] The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, [2] is sometimes classified as a dwarf galaxy; others consider it a full-fledged galaxy.
Hubble defined two classes of irregular galaxy: [16] Irr I galaxies have asymmetric profiles and lack a central bulge or obvious spiral structure; instead they contain many individual clusters of young stars; Irr II galaxies have smoother, asymmetric appearances and are not clearly resolved into individual stars or stellar clusters
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. [ 5 ] Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D 25 isophotal diameter of about 5.78 kiloparsecs (18,900 light-years), [ 1 ][ 3 ] and contains several hundred million stars. [ 5 ] It has a total mass of approximately 7 billion solar masses. [ 6 ]
Galaxy morphological classification is a system used by astronomers to divide galaxies into groups based on their visual appearance. There are several schemes in use by which galaxies can be classified according to their morphologies, the most famous being the Hubble sequence , devised by Edwin Hubble and later expanded by Gérard de ...
Peculiar galaxy. ESO 162-17 is an example of a peculiar galaxy which is 40 million light-years away in the constellation Carina. A peculiar galaxy is a galaxy of unusual size, shape, or composition. [1] Between five and ten percent of known galaxies are categorized as peculiar. [2] Astronomers have identified two types of peculiar galaxies ...
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. [1][2] The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System.
Leo A (also known as Leo III) is an irregular galaxy that is part of the Local Group. It lies 2.6 million light-years from Earth, and was discovered by Fritz Zwicky in 1942. [4] The estimated mass of this galaxy is (8.0 ± 2.7) × 107 solar masses, with at least 80% consisting of dark matter. [5] It is one of the most isolated galaxies in the ...