This news item claims to overturn conventional galaxy formation models where spirals and ellipticals had previously been thought to form in different ways. It shows instead that elliptical galaxies actually resemble spiral galaxies with the dust lanes removed. This would also support the SQK model of galaxy evolution, which predicts that mature spirals grow into giant ellipticals.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-elliptical-galaxies-spirals.html
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Response to this posting:
The study that gmagee refers to above finds that most elliptical galaxies have rotational properties similar to spiral galaxies. It, in effect, acknowledges what subquantum kinetics had previously been claiming for many years. Namely, SQK has proposed that dwarf ellipticals, grow into lenticular elipticals and then with further growth transform into spirals, this sequential evolution being due to matter being continuously created in their cores and subsequently ejected along their plane of rotation. This galaxy evolution scenario is consistent with the findings of this study. No galaxy mergers can be involved in such a morphological transformation. If mergers had been involved, the collisions would have turned the earlier galaxy into an irregular galaxy, thus breaking the sequential evolution of its morphology. So this close connection between ellipticals and spirals confirms that this does not happen. This leaves core matter creation and ejection as the only feasible alternative.
The study also finds that giant ellipticals, which are characterized as being “slow rotators”, are a distinct class of elliptical galaxy. This conforms with the SQK galaxy evolution scenario which proposes that giant ellipticals are formed as a late stage of spiral galaxy evolution and do not evolve directly from the “fast-rotator” elliptical galaxy stage.
P. LaViolette
August 2011