Question

Write this like an 8th grader and like a human: How are spiral, elliptical, and irregular galaxies different from each other? Use these sentence starters to help you with your answer.

Spiral galaxies have ....................

Elliptical galaxies have .........................

Finally Irregular galaxies can be described by .................................

Answer 1

Spiral galaxies have a flat disk with bright spiral arms that wind out from a central bulge; they have lots of gas and dust and many young, blue stars, so they are still making new stars (like the Milky Way).

Elliptical galaxies have round or oval shapes and look smooth with no arms; they mostly contain older, redder stars, very little gas or dust, and hardly any new star formation.

Finally Irregular galaxies can be described by having no regular shape or clear structure; they often look messy from collisions or interactions and usually have lots of gas, dust, and young stars.