Types of Galaxies
Galaxy Type↕ | Shape↕ | Star Formation Rate↕ | Famous Example↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Spiral Galaxy | Flat disk with spiral arms | Active (in arms) | Andromeda (M31) | The photogenic galaxy — beautiful spiral arms of blue young stars, Hubble's most iconic images, Andromeda is heading toward us (collision in 4.5 billion years), about 60% of nearby galaxies are spirals |
Barred Spiral | Spiral with central bar | Active | Milky Way (our galaxy) | Home sweet home — the Milky Way is a barred spiral, central bar channels gas to fuel star formation, two-thirds of spiral galaxies have bars, bar may be a phase in galaxy evolution |
Elliptical Galaxy | Spherical to elongated blob | Very low (old red stars) | M87 (first black hole image) | Galactic retirement homes — mostly old red stars, little gas or dust left for new stars, M87's supermassive black hole was first ever photographed (2019), largest galaxies in universe are ellipticals |
Irregular Galaxy | No defined shape | Often very active | Large Magellanic Cloud | Cosmic rebels with no structure — Magellanic Clouds visible from Southern Hemisphere, often result of gravitational interactions, rich in gas and active star formation, about 20% of known galaxies |
Lenticular Galaxy | Disk without spiral arms | Low | NGC 5866 (Spindle Galaxy) | The in-between galaxy — has a disk like spirals but no arms, has a bulge like ellipticals, transitional phase between spiral and elliptical, used up their gas, edge-on they look like flying saucers |
Ring Galaxy | Ring of stars around center | Active (in ring) | Hoag's Object | Rarest and most mysterious — Hoag's Object is a perfect ring around an older core, likely formed by galaxy collision punching through center, extremely rare, looks artificial, one of astronomy's beautiful puzzles |
Dwarf Galaxy | Various (irregular, elliptical) | Varies | Sagittarius Dwarf | Small but incredibly common — most galaxies in the universe are dwarfs, Milky Way is currently absorbing several, dark matter dominated, may be building blocks of larger galaxies, hard to detect |
Active Galaxy (AGN) | Any (with active nucleus) | Varies | Centaurus A | Supermassive black hole on overdrive — actively feeding black hole blasts jets and radiation, quasars are the extreme version, brightest objects in universe, visible across billions of light-years |
Quasar | Appears point-like (extremely distant) | Extreme in host galaxy | 3C 273 (first identified quasar) | Brightest objects in the universe — supermassive black holes eating entire gas clouds, some outshine their entire host galaxy by 1,000x, visible from 13 billion light-years away, powered the early universe |
Seyfert Galaxy | Spiral with bright nucleus | Active | NGC 1068 | Spiral galaxies with attitude — extremely bright active nuclei, less powerful than quasars but same mechanism, first identified by Carl Seyfert in 1943, about 10% of all galaxies may be Seyferts |
Starburst Galaxy | Any (extremely high star formation) | Extreme (10-100x normal) | M82 (Cigar Galaxy) | Star factories on overdrive — creating stars 10-100x faster than normal galaxies, often triggered by galaxy collisions, M82 has superwind blasting gas into space, will burn through gas fast then go quiet |
Interacting / Merging Galaxies | Distorted, tidal tails | Triggered bursts | Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039) | Cosmic car crashes in slow motion — gravity distorts both galaxies into spectacular shapes, tidal tails stretch for thousands of light-years, triggers massive star formation, Milky Way + Andromeda will do this eventually |
Jellyfish Galaxy | Trailing tentacles of gas/stars | Active in tentacles | JO206, ESO 137-001 | Galaxy being stripped naked — ram pressure from galaxy cluster strips gas into trailing tentacles, stars form in the tentacles, looks like jellyfish swimming through space, relatively recently identified phenomenon |
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