Celestial photo reveals rare polar ring galaxy NGC 2685 in Ursa Major

Located about 40 million light-years (a light-year is the distance light travels in one year, approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers) from Earth in Ursa Major (part of the Big Dipper), 'NGC 2685' is a rare polar ring galaxy. This galaxy has a strange structure where a ring of gas, dust, and stars wraps vertically around the disk in a direction entirely different from that of the central disk. It is highly likely that it formed after absorbing material from another galaxy, with the remnants settling into a ring shape, but it is difficult to consider it merely a result of chance. Observation results indicate that this ring structure is very old and is maintained stably, making it an exceptional galaxy with long-term viability in the universe.