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Transit: 11:43 
Sunset: 16:24
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All Constellations »  Ursa Major »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 23.33°   Az: 17.95°   Direction: North-North-East

NGC 2685 is a Lenticular Galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation. NGC 2685 is situated north of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere. Given its visual magnitude of 12.7, NGC 2685 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.

The image below is a photograph of NGC 2685 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5000x0.5000 degrees (30.00x30.00 arcmins).

Image of NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major star
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DSS2 image of NGC 2685 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (4.33 arcmin) and minor (2.31 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

08h 57m 30s
+58° 38’ 17”
14h 11m 44s
23h 09m 15s

J2000

08h 55m 35s
+58° 44’ 03”

Finder Chart

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 2685 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major.

Finder chart NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major.

Photometric Information

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 2685 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

13.68
12.7
9.25
8.58
8.35

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of NGC 2685.

24.03 mag/arcsec2

Apparent Size

The following table reports NGC 2685 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 2685 is a visual representation of it.
4.33 arcmin
2.31 arcmin
38°

Morphological Classification

NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major is classified as Lenticular (S0-Aa) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.

NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major
Visualization of the morphological classification of NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major, Lenticular (S0-Aa).
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY

Rise and Set Times

Location: Greenwich, UK
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

NGC 2685 (Helix Galaxy) - Lenticular Galaxy in Ursa Major is circumpolar and transits at 05:57 UTC (altitude: 82.8°)