By Alec Rodriguez

The Various Types of

Galaxies
 Introduction
• Galaxies are immense, densely packed
pockets of stars, dust, and other matter.
Just for scale, there are many galaxies
that are upwards of 50 trillion times the
circumference of the Earth across! But
galaxies are way more than just big
clumps of space dust. There are three
different subgroups of galaxies-spiral,
elliptical, and irregular-each with their
own shapes and characteristics.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

Spiral Galaxies
• The picture that comes to mind when you think
of a galaxy is probably the spiral galaxy. Like the
picture, it can be easily recognized for its long
“arms” that form a spiral or pinwheel-like shape
with a dense cluster of stars in the center. Spiral
galaxies generally have a mix of old and new stars.
One special type of spiral galaxy is the Barred-spiral
galaxy. In this variant, the center cluster of stars
forms into a bar-like shape. The milky way is an
example of this type.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Elliptical Galaxies
• Another type of galaxy is the elliptical galaxy, the
most abundant kind. Unlike other galaxies, they are
shaped somewhat like an egg and were formed from
the collisions of other previous galaxies. Elliptical
galaxies have mostly old stars, though. This is due to
the fact that there are very small amounts of gas and
dust. Since gas and dust are very important in the
development of stars, there is almost no possibility
that any can form.
 Irregular Galaxies

• As you may think by hearing the name,

irregular galaxies have no distinct shape. They
are rather a cloud of dust and stars. These
galaxies have much move favorable conditions
for developing stars than other types, since
they have far more dust and gas. Because of
this, many of the stars in irregular galaxies are
fairly new.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Sources
• www.space.com
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au
www.astronomynotes.com
www.universetoday.com