Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Pisces (Psc)  ·  Contains:  NGC 660
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NGC 660, Tom Harrison
NGC 660
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NGC 660, Tom Harrison
NGC 660
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Description

NGC660 is a polar ring type galaxy located at an approximate distance of 24 Million Light-Years toward the Constellation Pisces. It is only about 36,000 Light-Years in diameter. It is one of the finest representations amoung the relative rare polar ring galaxies (10 or so have been discovered). A polar ring galaxy is thought to develop through the interaction of two galaxies and an exchange of mass into the visible polar ring, aided by a large amount of gold gas dark matter. The NGC660 polar ring is observed in an inclined perspective and thus seen off to one side of the center of the galaxy. The dark matter apparently arrests the merger process of the two galaxies into a "frozen" polar ring state. In NGC660, a heavy concentration of new star formation (the bluish areas) surround the core of older stars. Astronomers can estimate the amount of dark matter by measuring the rotation rate of the highly extended polar ring.

Object: NGC660

Distance: 24 Million Light-Years

Magnitude: 11.2 visual

Date: November 2010

Place: Fort Davis, TX

Exposure Details: LRGB:700:180:210:270 unbinned

Processing: MaxIm DL, CCDStack, Photoshop CS3

Optics: 12.5" RCOS Truss

Focal Length: 2808 @ f9

Mount: Paramount ME Robotic

Camera: SBIG STL6303E

Focuser: RCOS

Guiding: Off-Axis with SBIG Guide Camera

Filters: Tru-Balance 2" LRGB Gen II

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NGC 660, Tom Harrison