Note: the big round ball-like thing on the right side of this next picture is a foreground Globular Cluster which belongs to our Milky Way, the other "globs" belong to the kidney-shaped irregular galaxy
Irregular galaxies have no defined shape, they are just a big "jumble" of stars
Note: the big round ball-like thing on the right side of this next picture is a foreground Globular Cluster which belongs to our Milky Way, the other "globs" belong to the kidney-shaped irregular galaxy
In general, Irregular galaxies are the
runts of the galaxies - they are usually some of the smallest galaxies
around (with the exception of some small Elliptical-type
galaxies).
Galaxies are not loners in the universe,
they almost always can be found in groups, or clusters, (our own Milky
Way is part of a group consisting of several dozen different galaxies,
most of which are small irregular and small elliptical galaxies).
When many galaxies try to reside too close to one another in a small
space, accidents can happen: sometimes galaxies step beyond their
bounds and invade eachother's "personal space" - this
produces some interesting results as the two galaxies
"duke-it-out"...
Next: Colliding
Galaxies
Previous:
Elliptical
Galaxies