13.18: Elliptical Galaxies

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Elliptical galaxies are those galaxies classified according to their shape and size. The shapes go from round – soccer-ball like – to extreme elongated – football-like – and are classified E0 (soccer ball shapes) to E5 (football shapes).Elliptical galaxies have very little dust and gas, and appear to be the oldest class of galaxies. They are not the dominant type of galaxy found in the Universe; some estimates place Elliptical populations are at around 10% to 15% of all galaxies.