NGC-660 is a peculiar & unique polar ring galaxy located in the constellation of Pisces, not far from the galaxy M-74. It is a late type lenticular galaxy that has a "polar ring" or belt of gas and stars around its center that was ripped from a neighboring galaxy during a collision that occurred over 1 billion years ago!
When we view NGC-660, we are looking at the result of a "cosmic train wreck". The ring is not actually "polar", but is inclined at an inclination from the host galaxy of approximately 45 degrees. This ring is over 50,000 light years across, much broader than the host galaxy itself. NGC-660 lies 45 million light years from Earth. In 2012, there was a massive outburst in NGC-660 that was ten times brighter than a supernova explosion. This burst is thought to have been caused bya massive jet shooting out from a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center.
This image, acquired on November 5, 2021, is a 1 hour and 33 minute integration of 3 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/6.3, using the Starizona Reducer/Corrector III and the ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro color CMOS camera, operating at -15 degrees below ambient temperature with the gain set at 100.
Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient
XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.