irregular galaxy
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An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that doesn't have a clear, organized shape like the familiar spiral or elliptical galaxies do. Studying these shapeless galaxies helps astronomers understand how galaxies can form and change, particularly when they collide or are disrupted by gravitational forces.
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NGC 1427A, an example of an irregular galaxy. It is an Irr-I category galaxy about 52 Mly distant.
Irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, with neither a nuclear bulge nor any trace of spiral arm structure. Other galaxies have an axis of symmetry for their blue-light distribution, which cannot be found in the sporadic organization of irregular galaxies. This absence of structure in an irregular galaxy leads to little density waves in these galaxies. This makes irregular galaxies prime areas to study star formation without the effects of density waves.