We know this because spiral galaxies rotate quickly (on an astronomical scale), while elliptical galaxies do not. There is no way that an elliptical galaxy could spontaneously begin rotating, so there is no way an elliptical galaxy could turn into a spiral galaxy.
Can a spiral galaxy become an elliptical galaxy?
As the galaxies approach each other, gravitational forces start to pull the stars, gas, and dust of the spiral arms out of their original orbits. ... It is also what ultimately destroys the initial spiral patterns of the two galaxies and results in an elliptical galaxy once the merger is complete .
How could a pair of spiral galaxies become elliptical?
As the galaxies approach each other, gravitational forces start to pull the stars, gas, and dust of the spiral arms out of their original orbits . ... This is what results in a single, football-shaped elliptical galaxy with stars orbiting the center in all planes, rather than the single plane of a flat spiral galaxy.
How are elliptical galaxies different from spiral galaxies?
Spiral galaxies have a central bulge of stars surrounded by a disk that contains arms, which form a spiral structure. ... Elliptical galaxies don't show any structure , but have a smooth ellipsoidal shape, appearing as a large spherical or elliptical ball of stars.
Does an elliptical galaxy rotate like a spiral galaxy explain?
Does an elliptical galaxy rotate like a spiral galaxy? ... No, so we can't determine a rotational velocity . If we can measure the various speeds with which the stars are moving in their orbits around the center of the galaxy, we can calculate how much mass the galaxy must contain in order to hold the stars within it.
What happens if 2 galaxies collide?
The merging of galaxies will radically affect their shape. For example, two spiral galaxies can merge and form an elliptical galaxy. Sometimes even more than two galaxies can collide with each other. ... Merging galaxies can also trigger the creation of new stars .
What often happens when two spiral galaxies collide?
when two spiral galaxies collide they form a elliptical galaxy . a spiral galaxy alone is neat and orderly, when two orderly galaxies collide they form a messy tangled galaxy which is an elliptical galaxy. ... This can cause galaxies to become distorted or even rip apart.
What is an example of a spiral galaxy?
The Milky Way – the galaxy that includes Earth and our solar system – is an example of a spiral galaxy. ... The disk of stars orbiting the bulge separates into arms that circle the galaxy. These spiral arms contain a wealth of gas and dust and younger stars that shine brightly before their quick demise.
How are the centers of many spiral galaxies similar to many elliptical galaxies?
Spiral and elliptical galaxies are very similiar and different. ... Spiral galaxies have lots of gas and dust which means it has younger stars. Elliptical galaxies have littlr gas and dust which means it has older stars. As you can see, spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies are very alike and diffferent.
What does a spiral galaxy look like?
Most spiral galaxies contain a central bulge surrounded by a flat, rotating disk of stars . The bulge in the center is made up of older, dimmer stars, and is thought to contain a supermassive black hole. ... These spiral arms contain a wealth of gas and dust and younger stars that shine brightly before their quick demise.
Is this a photo of a spiral galaxy or an elliptical galaxy and how do you know?
Is this a photo of a spiral galaxy or an elliptical galaxy, and how do you know? It is a spiral galaxy , because we can see a dusty disk going across the center. This photo shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC for short. ... The oldest stars in these galaxies are much older than the oldest stars in our own Milky Way.
What does it mean if one elliptical galaxy has broader spectrum lines than another elliptical galaxy?
The more random motion there is in an elliptical galaxy, the greater the spread in the distribution of velocities and the fatter the resulting galaxy spectral lines will be. More massive galaxies have more gravity so their stars are accelerated to faster orbital speeds.
What are 3 characteristics of elliptical galaxies?
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 ...
Will we collide with Andromeda?
Previous simulations have suggested that Andromeda and the Milky Way are scheduled for a head-on collision in about 4 billion to 5 billion years . But the new study estimates that the two star groups will swoop closely past each other about 4.3 billion years from now and then fully merge about 6 billion years later.
What will happen to our galaxy in 4 billion years?
In roughly 4.5 billion years' time the Milky Way will smash into the rapidly approaching Andromeda Galaxy , and astronomers are still attempting to predict what it will be like when the two galaxies collide. That a collision between our galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy is inevitable has been known for a little while.
Has the Milky Way ever collided with another galaxy?
At least a dozen times over the last 12 billion years , the Milky Way collided with a neighboring galaxy and devoured it, swallowing up that neighbor's stars and mixing them into an ever-growing stew of pilfered suns.
