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Calvin College - Physics and Astronomy (722 words) |
 | M32 is a member of the Local Group of galaxies, and is an elliptical dwarf galaxy of the type E2. |
| M32 consist mainly of old population 2 stars, which are red old stars that were formed near the beginning of the universe. |
| M32 is a lot brighter than other dwarf galaxies and its apparent color is not normally associated with its age. |
| elliptical galaxy (513 words) |
| Giant ellipticals, such as M87, may contain over 10 trillion solar masses in the form of stars, are among the largest of galaxies, and are often found at the heart of rich clusters of galaxies. |
| Dwarf ellipticals, on the other hand, such as M32 (a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy) may have masses as low as 10 million solar masses and lie at the bottom end of the galactic size range. |
| It used to be thought that ellipticals were the oldest galaxies, but more recent studies, including computer simulations, suggest that they have formed from collisions and mergers between spiral galaxies. |
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