Object | NGC 660 |
---|---|
Description | NGC 660 is a small unique galaxy, located over 40 million light-years away. NGC 660’s peculiar appearance marks it as a polar ring galaxy. A rare galaxy type, polar ring galaxies have a substantial population of stars, gas, and dust orbiting in rings strongly tilted from the plane of the galactic disk. The bizarre-looking configuration could have been caused by the chance capture of material from a passing galaxy by a disk galaxy, with the captured debris eventually strung out in a rotating ring. |
Image | |
Scope | Explore Scientific 127ed APO refractor |
Camera | ST2000XCM |
Mount | Losmandy G11 |
Filters | |
Guiding | St-i through a Zenithstar 80mm refractor |
Exposure Info | 13 x 15 minutes for 3.25 hours total exposure time |
Date | November 5, 2018 |
Copyright | Photo copyright Thomas Kerns, Beluga Lake Observatory |