you know.. from seeing many different photos of many different galaxies, and some galaxy zoo attempts to classify by "type", it occurs to me, they all appear to be the same similar type, just viewed from an extremely wide variety of angles. Spirals one way, spiral the other way, line galaxy, simply depends on angle.

But they certainly are beautiful.

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Janice

you know.. from seeing many different photos of many different galaxies, and some galaxy zoo attempts to classify by "type", it occurs to me, they all appear to be the same similar type, just viewed from an extremely wide variety of angles. Spirals one way, spiral the other way, line galaxy, simply depends on angle.

The traditional system for classifying spiral and barred galaxies, due to Edwin Hubble, is based on the size of the hub or central concentration in relation to that of the disk, so the viewing angle is irrelevant. The divisions between classes aren't sharp, but in most cases experienced observers will agree on the category to which a given example belongs.

Elliptical galaxies show very little structure, if any at all, so their classification does depend on the angle of view, insofar as it determines the aspect ratio.

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galaxy zoo looks at many variables to label a galaxy anything from the central bulge to merging galaxies to the number of arms or even if it appears to be lensing distant objects.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope