What are the main components of elliptical galaxies?

Spiral galaxies have three main components: a bulge, disk, and halo (see right). The bulge is a spherical structure found in the center of the galaxy. This feature mostly contains older stars. The disk is made up of dust, gas, and younger stars. The disk forms arm structures. read more

Elliptical Galaxies : Elliptical galaxies are shaped like a spheriod, or elongated sphere. In the sky, where we can only see two of their three dimensions, these galaxies look like elliptical, or oval, shaped disks. The light is smooth, with the surface brightness decreasing as you go farther out from the center. read more

Absence of the disk component in the elliptical galaxies is the major difference that occurs in b/w the spiral and elliptical galaxies. Hot and young stars concentrate in the disk component b/c of the active star formation, absence of this component would be no hot and young stars in elliptical galaxies. read more

Elliptical galaxies probably comprise about 60 percent of the galaxies in the universe. They show wide variation in size -- most are small (about 1 percent the diameter of the Milky Way), but some are about five times larger than the diameter of the Milky Way. read more