Astrophysics (Index)About

morphology-density relation

(density-morphology relation)
(a galaxy is more likely to be elliptical if surrounded by galaxies)

The morphology-density relation is a set of relations between populations of galaxies of a given morphology and the galaxy environment represented by the surrounding number density of galaxies. The density has a positive relation with fraction of galaxies that are elliptical, and a negative relation with the fraction that are spiral. This is taken as evidence that elliptical galaxies are the product of galaxy interactions such as galaxy mergers.


(relation,galaxies)
Further reading:
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/m/Morphology+Density+Relation
http://icc.dur.ac.uk/~tt/Lectures/Galaxies/TeX/lec/node80.html
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Whitmore2/Whit3_1.html
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003MNRAS.346..601G/abstract

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