Elliptical Galaxies
Click icon to view an elliptical galaxy of Messier’s catalog
The icon shows M87, also called Virgo A, the supergiant
elliptical in the heart of the Virgo Cluster.
Elliptical galaxies are ellipsoidal agglomerations of stars, which usually do
not contain much interstellar matter, and look smoothly like small wads in the
telescope. Sizes vary from considerably small systems (as
M32 which is quite bright though) to really giant
guys as M87.
Some disk galaxies without much structure, i.e.
lenticulars, can hardly be distinguished from
(and thus are sometimes misclassified as) elliptical galaxies; this has
happened in the past to all four Messier lenticulars, among many others.
Elliptical galaxies of Messier’s catalog:
M32,
M49,
M59,
M60,
M87,
M89,
M105,
(Probable) S0 galaxies in Messier’s catalog:
M84,
M85,
M86,
- Look at Elliptical Galaxies in Messier’s Catalog
-
Also look at our collection of some significant non-Messier elliptical galaxies
Last Modification: 25 Jan 1998, 16:06 MET