ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies

Okay kiddo, imagine looking at a bunch of different shapes and sizes of toys. Some are round, some are long, and others have weird bumps on them. That's kind of like galaxies, which are huge groups of stars, gas, and dust in space. Scientists want to organize these galaxies by their shapes, just like you might organize your toys by their colors or sizes.

So, they created something called a "morphological catalogue of galaxies." "Morphological" just means the study of shapes. A catalogue is like a big list. So, this is a list of all the different shapes of galaxies that scientists have observed.

There are a few different types of galaxies that scientists use to organize this list. For example, one type is called a spiral galaxy, which looks like a big pinwheel with arms coming out of it. Another type is called an elliptical galaxy, which is more like a big ball of stars with no distinct shape.

By organizing galaxies into this catalogue, scientists can study how the different shapes might be related to the way the galaxies formed or evolved over time. They can also use it to help identify new galaxies that might not fit into any of the existing shape categories.