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Astronomers using the ground-based Gemini telescope, located in the north of the Hawaiian Islands, made a new image of the galaxy NGC 2685, which belongs to a very rare type of astronomical objects. The previous version of the galaxy was photographed back in 1998 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, USA, Live Science informs.
NGC 2685 is a lenticular galaxy with a polar ring located 40 million light-years away. The strange shape and history of the galaxy sets it apart from all galaxies known to astronomers. Therefore, it is recognized as one of the most unusual galaxies in the universe.
As the new image shows, the galaxy also has rings of gas, dust and stars that rotate perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy. It is this feature that characterizes the cosmic phenomenon — a lenticular galaxy with a polar ring.
Lenticular galaxies are thought to be old spiral galaxies whose arms have darkened, although the unique structure of NGC 2685 may be the result of two or more galaxies colliding and merging over millions of years.
Research suggests that NGC 2685's current structure arose when it captured material from another galaxy that was pulled into the surrounding polar ring.
As a reminder, astronomers discovered a huge black hole that was formed as a result of the explosion of a star just 2 light-years from Earth.
BH3 is the most massive stellar black hole discovered in the Milky Way, revealed to researchers by the powerful pull of a companion star orbiting an object in the constellation Aquila, the Eagle.
