What is an elliptical galaxy?
Elliptical galaxies appear in photographs as fuzzy patches of light. They vary in shape from circles to narrow ovals and may be spherical or flat. The light of the stars at the center of an elliptical galaxy is the brightest, that at the edges is dimmest, and the light in between fades out in a smooth progression. An elliptical galaxy becomes more and more sparse at the edges until it merges gradually into space. This fact makes it nearly impossible to define precisely the boundaries of an elliptical galaxy.
