What violent past interaction primarily forms massive elliptical galaxies?
Answer
Collisions and subsequent mergers of spiral galaxies
The primary theory for the existence of most massive elliptical galaxies points toward intense gravitational disruption events in the galaxy's past. When two or more spiral galaxies collide, the gravitational shockwaves trigger rapid, intense bursts of star formation. This catastrophic process rapidly consumes the available cold gas fuel supply that was necessary for sustaining ongoing star birth in the original spiral disks. Once this fuel is exhausted during the merger chaos, the resulting larger system settles into the smooth, ellipsoidal shape characteristic of an elliptical galaxy, leaving behind a collection of the stars that existed before and during the cataclysm.
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