M31 can be glimpsed by the naked eye as an elongated hazy patch and appears clearly in binoculars. M33 would be an easy target for small telescopes, except its light is spread over such a large area that it never appears more than a round, hazy patch of sky. This makes it difficult for first time observers. Other local group members are also large, spreading their light out so much as to make them extremely difficult to see at all. The vast majority of galaxies appear as small hazy patches of sky.
Elliptical galaxies are round or egg-shaped, often with a bright, starlike center.
They look the same from all directions and are otherwise featureless. Some of the brighter ellipticals are M87 and M84. Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped like our own Milky Way. They are flat with a round bulge at the center, much like a classic flying saucer. Their apparent shape depends on the angle from which we are viewing them.