An elliptical galaxy has a smooth spheroidal stellar distribution and little cold gas. Low-mass systems are commonly flattened fast rotators, while the most massive systems are commonly slowly rotating, anisotropic, and triaxial.
An oblate isotropic rotator is flattened primarily by ordered rotation while its random velocity dispersion is isotropic. Its location in a --ellipticity diagram provides a reference against which anisotropy is measured.
Fast rotators have substantial ordered stellar rotation and are often disky and nearly axisymmetric. Slow rotators have low specific angular momentum and are often massive, anisotropic, triaxial, and core-profiled.
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