The Helix Galaxy, located 42 million light years away, is an unusual object as it is both a polar ring and a lenticular galaxy.
The Helix Galaxy’s unusual structure is visible in high-resolution images shot by amateur astronomers. Credit: Mark Hanson
- The Helix Galaxy is a lens-shaped galaxy with a ring of material around it.
- It’s powered by a supermassive black hole, making it a high-energy galaxy.
- It’s located 42 million light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation.
- This is one you can then check off from the world of truly strange and exotic creatures of the universe!
NGC 2685, often called the Helix Galaxy, is quite an unusual object. It is a lenticular (lens-shaped) galaxy that is also a polar ring galaxy, showing a ring of material at 90° orientation to its main axis, resulting from an interaction with a nearby galaxy. It is also a Seyfert Galaxy, its active nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole, putting it into the class of high-energy objects studied first by American astronomer Carl Seyfert.Â
The Helix Galaxy lies at a distance of about 42 million light-years in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy spans 50,000 light-years, about half the size of the Milky Way’s disk. The Helix Galaxy glows at magnitude 10.8 and spans 4.3’ by 2.3’.
This is a truly rare kind of object. It is an active galaxy, a lenticular (which is somewhat unusual), and a polar ring galaxy (which is very unusual).Â
Head out soon and see if you can spot the Helix Galaxy, and note whether it looks strange in appearance. This is one you can then check off from the world of truly strange and exotic creatures of the universe!
