Astr110 Photography Projects, Fall 2005

M110 Elliptical Galaxy, John-Mark Feyen

The Elliptical Galaxy M110 (also known as NGC 205) is a dwarf  elliptical galaxy in the Andromeda constellation, a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy, and a member of the Local Group galaxies. An elliptical galaxy is the result of a long process where one or more smaller galaxies, of any type, collide and merge into a larger one. Elliptical galaxies are characterized by a wide range of mass, size, and luminosity with little dust or gas. M110 is at about the same distance as the Andromeda galaxy M31, about 2.9 million light years, as confirmed by Walter Baade in 1944, when he resolved it into stars (messier_marathon.com). It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1773. M110 is the second brightest satellite galaxy in the Andromeda Galaxy (abosolute_astronomy.com).

In the picture M110 appears to be longer vertically and elliptical in shape as expected from an elliptical galaxy. Its core is medium sized and quite bright and would probably be classified as an E6 on the Hubble tuning fork diagram. M110 has a small linear size of 11,800 light years which explains why it is normally considered a dwarf elliptical rather than a normal elliptical.