The collaboration sought answers to the differences in the origins of the various galaxy types — elliptical, lenticular, and spiral. The studies found that elliptical galaxies were the oldest and formed from the violent merger of other galaxies about two to three billion years after the Big Bang. Star formation in elliptical galaxies ceased about that time. On the other hand, new stars are still forming in the spiral arms of spiral galaxies. Lenticular galaxies (SO) are intermediate between the first two. They contain structures similar to spiral arms, but devoid of the gas and new stars of the spiral galaxies. Lenticular galaxies are the prevalent form in rich galaxy clusters, which suggests that spirals may be transformed into lenticular galaxies as time progresses. The exact process may be related to high galactic density, or to the total mass in a rich cluster's central core. The Morphs collaboration found that one of the principal mechanisms of this transformation involves the interaction among spiral galaxies, as they fall toward the core of the cluster.