Many galaxies resemble the Milky Way, with billions of stars organized into a rotating, rotating spiral. There are other irregular galaxies and giant elliptical galaxies with less defined structures, but one of the most bizarre types of galaxies is called 'polar rings.' In these galaxies, the central core is surrounded by a ring of gas and a star perpendicular to the central spiral disk. It's believed they're formed when a larger galaxy swallows a smaller one, extruding its stars into a ring. A recent survey revealed two previously unknown polar ring galaxies, which could be more common than previously believed.
categorize galaxies by their shape
A polar ring galaxy is a spiral or elliptical galaxy with an outer ring of gas and stars tilted roughly perpendicular to the galactic plane. The ring encircles the galaxy over its polar regions, hence the name. Often the ring is primarily diffuse hydrogen gas, which can only be seen at radio wavelengths.
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