Flocculent spiral galaxy explained

A flocculent spiral galaxy is a type of spiral galaxy. Unlike the well-defined spiral architecture of a grand design spiral galaxy, flocculent (meaning "flaky") galaxies are patchy, with discontinuous spiral arms.^{[1] [2]} Self-propagating star formation is the apparent explanation for the structure of flocculent spirals. Approximately 30% of spirals are flocculent, 10% are grand design, and the rest are referred to as "multi-armed".^[3] The multiple-arm type is sometimes grouped into the flocculent category.^[4]

The prototypical flocculent spiral is NGC 2841.^[5]

List of flocculent spiral galaxies

Example	Class	Image	Constellation	Notes
NGC 1325	SBbc		Eridanus
NGC 1353	SBb		Eridanus
NGC 2775	SA(r)ab		Cancer	^[6]
NGC 2841	SA(r)b		Ursa Major
NGC 3521	SAB(r s)bc		Leo
NGC 4298	SA(r s)c		Coma Berenices
NGC 4414	SA(r s)c		Coma Berenices	^[7]
NGC 7793	SA(s)d		Sculptor
Sunflower Galaxy (Messier 63)	SAB(r s)cd		Canes Venatici	^[8]

Sources

• PDF A Near-Infrared Atlas of Spiral Galaxies, Debra Meloy Elmegreen, 1981,,

External links

• COSMOS astronomy encyclopedia – Flocculent Spiral

Notes and References

1. COSMOS – SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy, "Grand Design Spiral" (Retrieved 23 April 2010)
2. COSMOS – SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy, "Flocculent Spiral" (Retrieved 23 April 2010)
3. Case Western Reserve University, Chris Mihos, ASTR222 – Spring 2008, "Spiral Structure" (Retrieved 23 April 2010)
4. University of Virginia, Mark Whittle, ASTR 553/554 : Extragalactic Astronomy (2007), "Lecture 5: Spiral Galaxies" (Retrieved 23 April 2010)
5. "A Near-Infrared Atlas of Spiral Galaxies", Debra Meloy Elmegreen, "CH3. Discussion" (Retrieved 23 April 2010)
6. Web site: Hubble Spots Feathered Spiral . NASA . 2 July 2020 . 3 July 2020.
7. 3 April 2002 . NGC 4414: A Flocculent Spiral Galaxy . 23 April 2010.
8. NASA (2015). https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/hubbles-galactic-sunflower. Retrieved 2 March 2017