Spiral Galaxies

These galaxies resemble giant rotating pinwheels with a pancake-like disk of stars and a central bulge or tight concentration of stars.

Elliptical Galaxies

Unlike spirals, elliptical galaxies usually contain little gas and dust and show very little organization or structure. The stars orbit around the core in random directions and are generally older than those in spiral galaxies since little of the gas needed to form new stars remains

Lenticular Galaxies

Lenticular galaxies are a kind of cross between spirals and ellipticals. They have the central bulge and disk common to spiral galaxies but no arms. But like ellipticals, lenticular galaxies have older stellar populations and little ongoing star formation.