椭圆星系的形状正如它们的名字所述。
几乎没有已知的新恒星形成于椭圆星系。
但椭圆星系可以非常巨大。
但椭圆星系似乎更简单。
NGC1275是最近的巨椭圆星系之一。
椭圆星系也可能很小，在这种情况下它们被称为矮椭圆星系。
Elliptical galaxies may also be small, in which case they are dubbed dwarf elliptical galaxies.
椭圆星系并不具有大多数星系具有的扁圆或是螺旋型的形状。
Elliptical galaxies do not take on the flat-disk or spiral shapes that most galaxies do.
椭圆星系被认为是在几亿年前就已经形成了它们的所有行星。
"Elliptical galaxies were thought to have made all of their stars billions of years ago," said astronomer Mark Crockett of the University of Oxford, leader of the Hubble observations, in a release.
宇宙中已知的最大的星系是巨椭圆星系，可能长2百万光年。
The universe's largest known galaxies are giant elliptical galaxies, which may be as much as two million light-years long.
星系主要分为三类：螺旋星系、椭圆星系和不规则星系。
Galaxies are classified into three main types: spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies.
椭圆星系是较晚才出现的，它们是螺旋星系合并的后果。
The other is that ellipticals are relative latecomers, having been produced as a result of the merging of spiral galaxies.
最终，椭圆星系将融合，创造出一个比我们银河系大很多倍的超级星系。
Eventually, the elliptical galaxies should merge, creating one single super-galaxy many times larger than our Milky Way.
最近，天文学家已在数个椭圆星系里发现了这类中龄的球状星团。
Recently astronomers have discovered these intermediateage globular clusters in several elliptical galaxies.
椭圆星系中有多达万亿颗古老的恒星，但几乎没有灰尘和其他星际物质。
Elliptical galaxies contain many older stars, up to one trillion, but little dust and other interstellar matter.
人们相信，宇宙最初的十亿年间已经存在的大星系是这些椭圆星系的先祖。
Massive galaxies that existed during the first billion or so years of cosmic history are believed to be the early ancestors of these ellipticals.
现在我们这倒了很多椭圆星系的新星诞生的证据，它们的动力来自于吞食更小的星系。
Now we are finding evidence of star birth in many elliptical galaxies, fueled mostly by cannibalizing smaller galaxies.
至少螺旋星系的核球与晕，以及某些椭圆星系，可能是由此种碰撞产生的。
At least some elliptical galaxies, as well as the bulges and halos of spiral galaxies, may have arisen from such collisions.
其宽广的旋臂被该星系团另一成员，巨型椭圆星系ngc 4697的引力作用所扭曲。
Its broad arms are distorted by gravitational interaction with a fellow Virgo cluster member, giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4697.
但是除去这数以万计的星系，我们怎么知道哪些是椭圆星系哪些是螺旋星系呢？
But out of these million galaxies, how do we know which are spirals and which are ellipticals?
和夜空中明亮的椭圆星系ngc 3193一起时，他们也被称作Arp316。
Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 at the right, they are also known as Arp 316.
碰撞也会改变星系的外形，特别是当两螺旋星系融合后可能会产生单一的椭圆星系。
Collisions also can transform the shape of galaxies involved; specifically, the merger of two spiral galaxies may produce a single elliptical galaxy.
NGC 1132是一个椭圆星系，因此少有尘埃和气体，最近也很少有新恒星形成。
As an elliptical galaxy, NGC 1132 has little dust and gas, and few stars have formed in it recently.
这项观察意味着像这样的椭圆星系还有一些旺盛的“繁殖力”残余，多亏那些和较小星系的撞击。
The observations suggest that elliptical galaxies like this still have some youthful vigor left, thanks to encounters with smaller galaxies.
后发星系团及其它星系团的许多星系是椭圆星系，而星系团外面的许多星系是旋涡星系。
Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, while most galaxies outside of clusters are spirals.
它的下面偏右（在画面的左边中间）看起来毛绒绒一团的是马费伊1，离地球最近的巨型椭圆星系。
Just below and to its right is fuzzy-looking Maffei 1, the closest giant elliptical galaxy to Earth.
它的下面偏右（在画面的左边中间）看起来毛绒绒一团的是马费伊1，离地球最近的巨型椭圆星系。
Just below and to its right is fuzzy-looking Maffei 1, the closest giant elliptical galaxy to Earth.
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