elliptical galaxy

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a type of galaxy having the shape of a spheroid or ellipsoid, rather than a disk.

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elliptical galaxy Scientific  

/ ĭ-lĭp′tĭ-kəl /

1. The most common type of galaxy, ranging in shape from nearly spherical (classified as E0) to greatly elongated (classified as E7). Elliptical galaxies vary greatly in size and include some of the largest and smallest known galaxies. They do not have spiral arms and have considerably less interstellar gas and dust than spiral galaxies, with little or no star formation taking place within them. Their stars follow individual elliptical orbits around the center of the galaxy. Long thought to be older galaxies which had used up all the material for star formation, it has also been suggested that elliptical galaxies actually form from collisions between spiral galaxies.

2. Compare irregular galaxy lenticular galaxy spiral galaxy See more at Hubble classification system

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Example Sentences

Published by a team of American scientists in The Astrophysical Journal, the study analyzes "one of the most massive black hole systems known," a binary located within the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379.

From Salon • Mar. 4, 2024

National Science Foundation, to analyze a supermassive black hole binary located within the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379.

From Science Daily • Feb. 29, 2024

The mass of the black hole is also correlated to the stellar mass of a spiral galaxy's central bulge, or the overall mass of an elliptical galaxy.

From Scientific American • Nov. 8, 2023

Figure 27.13 shows observations of an elliptical galaxy that behaves in exactly this way.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

Which is redder—a spiral galaxy or an elliptical galaxy?

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016