Very Large Telescope during its commissioning phase in June 1998. More details can be obtained from the NGC 4650A ESO web page .
Most spiral galaxies contain a single thin disk of stars.
Because the second larger disk, that probably was formed in a collision, extends far above the inner disk, it probes gravitational forces in the outer halo of the galaxy where we believe the dark matter resides. Pictures of this best example of a polar ring galaxy with the Hubble Space Telescope will give us our first sharp view of this unique galaxy type, and with it a new vision to test our ideas about dark matter and its relationship to the structures of galaxies. Digital Sky Survey image with two possible pointings for WFPC2 superimposed. With two pointings of WFPC2 we will get a deep image of the entire galaxy. The possibility also exists to overlap positions so that a sharper Planetary Camera image of the central regions of UGC 3697 is achieved in one of our exposures.