NGC 660 - Polar Ring Galaxy
The galaxy NGC 660 belongs to the "Messier 74 group" and is located about 44 million light years away in the constellation "Pisces". It is therefore
best observed in autumn. Its apparent brightness is given with 10.7mag, the size with 8.3'x3.2'.
The shape is very irregular, therefore it belongs to the group of peculiar galaxies. In addition, it is classified as a "Polar Ring Galaxy." In the case of NGC 660,
the ring of stars, gas and dust does not run across the poles of the galaxy, but is inclined at an angle of 45°. It was probably formed by a collision with another
galaxy about 1 billion years ago. In the 50,000 light-years diameter ring there are many hundreds of HII- regions and star burst regions, where a very large
number of new stars are formed at one shot - among them many blue supergiants with an extremely high luminosity of many millions of suns. Some of these
stars are only 7 million years old.
Increased activity was detected in the center of NGC 660 in 2012, suggesting a supermassive black hole of 20 million solar masses.
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This exciting galaxy overall appears quite bright in my 20" telescope - especially the central region. Since the sky was not quite optimal, the many structures
were not so easy to pick up even at 270x. The dark dust band is quite obvious, but the fourfold division remained hidden. The two extensions are quite faint and
quickly disappear in the sky background. The southern one appears brighter and extends a bit further into space.
