Tags: Galaxy.
NGC 2685 (also known as the Helix Galaxy) is a lenticular and polar-ring galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is about 50000 light-years across and about 42 million light-years away from Earth. It is receding from Earth at 883 kilometers per second. It is an object of great scientific interest because polar-ring galaxies are very rare galaxies. They are thought to form when two galaxies gravitationally interact with each other.
