Quote:
Originally Posted by mental4astro
Where would I be able to source some info on Elliptical galaxies?
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I'll have to have a look for you if you want more detail.
GENERAL SUMMARY
We know very little about the true origin and evolution of any galaxies, let alone elliptical galaxies themselves. It is generally assumed that they have been either formed by galaxy mergers or that the evolution was swift in their formation where the nebula gas was taken out by a massive amount of star formation (starburst). Nebulae are now devoid in most of the known ellipticals.
They are different than globulars, as they;
-Orbital velocity of the stars are forty to fifty times faster (200 to 300 km each second)
- They move in orbits around the centre and not 'randomly' throughout the object (like the globulars do)
- They contain hundreds of billion stars, globulars merely one to ten million
- They are so very much larger. I.e. 20 parsecs for globulars versus 10000 to about 20000 parsecs i.e. 500 or 1000 times more across each object !
Globulars dynamically are generally unrelated to elliptical galaxies - sharing just similar old ages.
HTH