http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?id=587739507154288786
587739507154288786

Just wanted to share this one. It has an interesting shape, like a calla lily without its stem.

I see TWO polar rings, one is faint...
Great and astonoshing picture.

I sent something in, now to wait. I also have found several other things out about polar ring galaxies.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070216.html apod of one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar-ring_galaxywikipedia page on them
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1999/16/News article saying there are only 100 known

NGC 2685 is a confirmed polar ring galaxy - a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk. The bizarre configuration could be caused by the chance capture of material from another galaxy by a disk galaxy, with the captured debris strung out in a rotating ring.

A polar-ring galaxy is a type of galaxy in which an outer ring of gas and stars rotates over the poles of the galaxy. (as we can tell by the name.) These polar rings are thought to form when two galaxies gravitationally interact with each other. (so now we know it doesnt just form by itself, because it needs two galaxies...) One possibility is that a material is tidally stripped from a passing galaxy to produce the polar ring seen in the polar-ring galaxy. (as mentioned in APOD) The other possibility is that a smaller galaxy collides orthogonally with the plane of rotation of the larger galaxy, with the smaller galaxy effectively forming the polar-ring structure. (for those who dont know what orthogonally means, it means perpendicular) (ok, so now we have our two theories of polar ring formation. one being that the material is stripped from the smaller galaxy, the other being that they collided and the smallest became a ring around the larger.)

Lovely shots Jules

Here's a recent ISS shot from me...

The physics involved in resonance entails the differential rotation of a galaxy's bar with respect to particles in the disk of the galaxy. Put simply, it is the value of the bar pattern angular velocity in relation to the angular frequency of circular rotation and the radial epicyclic frequency of every star and dust cloud in the disk of the galaxy. The epicycles are actually closed elliptical orbits of material in the disk of the galaxy that are precessing around the central region of the galaxy. How fast a bar pattern rotates determines what kind of resonance you end up with in a galaxy. If the bar pattern speed is fast enough then it is believed that it can push a spiral out to the Outer Lindblad Resonance (OLR). If OLR is in the visible disk then it may lead to ring and pseudoring formation. The three major resonances relevant to ring formation are:

Outer Lindblad Resonance (OLR)
Inner Lindblad Resonance (ILR)
Inner 4:1 Ultraharmonic Resonance (UHR)

Figure 1. The OLR subclass of outer pseudorings

About one fifth of all spiral disk galaxies include a ring-shaped pattern in the light distribution, and an additional one third appear to have broken or partial rings made up of spiral arms (pseudorings). These rings are a special problem in galaxy morphology with a direct bearing on the internal dynamics and evolution of disk galaxies. Morphological data have shown that rings are most often associated with bars or other common non-axisymmetric perturbations, such as ovals. Kinematic and metric data have provided considerable evidence for intrinsic oval shapes and preferred alignments between ring major axes and bars. Photometric data have demonstrated that most rings are sites of current active star formation, and in some galaxies, a ring is the only place where recent star formation is found. A few rings are sites of the most spectacular ``starbursts'' known in non-violently interacting galaxies.