Galaxy Morphology

Understand

Galaxy morphology is a product of how galaxies formed, how they interacted with their environment, how they were influenced by internal perturbations, AGN, and dark matter, and of their varied star formation histories.

• This article reviews the phenomenology of galaxy morphology and classification with a view to delineating as many types as possible and how they relate to physical interpretations.
• The old classification systems are refined, and new types introduced, as the explosion in available morphological data has modified our views on the structure and evolution of galaxies.