Polar-ring galaxy NGC660

[RickS]

NGC660 and some friends in Pisces. The galaxy at bottom right is PGC6292 aka IC418. At the top is PGC6364.

Polar-ring galaxies are believed to be formed by tidal accretion from a passing galaxy or by a merger. In the case of NGC660 the ring is at a 45 degree angle to the galactic poles and was probably formed by accretion.

Captured at SRO, 12-Dec-2015 to 10-Feb-2016

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Filters: Astrodon
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel (drizzled to higher res)
Exposures: 61x600s L, 16x1200s R, 18x1200s G, 15x1200s B (26.5 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

Acquisition credit: John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Leonardo Orazi, Rob Pfile, Rick Stevenson and Jerry Yesavage.
Processing credit: Rick Stevenson

High res crop here: http://www.astrobin.com/full/251388/C/
Full field: http://www.astrobin.com/full/251388/0/

Cheers,
Rick.

[Atmos]

So many interesting galaxies in that field! NGC660 almost looks like it has two galaxies within each other, that 45º part in the middle. If you look at both ends of that 45º bit, it makes an S.

Really nice work there Rick!

[strongmanmike]

Fascinating galaxy this one Rick. Like Saturn, that very cool ring makes it look 3D. Great vibrant colours and due to your large field of view with excellent sampling it is a treat to surf around, stuff everywhere :eyepop: I have wanted to have a shot at this baby with my setup but keep bypassing it because at +14deg Dec it seems just that bit too low from Canberra to do it great justice..?

...makes me wanna put my 16803 back on the AG12 though :question:

Excellent processing as usual but one thought, the sky does look quite black on my monitor :question: like it is hiding some faint stuff in places..?

Thanks for the veiw :thumbsup:

Mike

[Geoff45]

Lots of interesting stuff here Rick, quite aside from the main subject, which is really good. Perticularly interesting is the strangish object slightly left of centre top. There are 3 things that look like spiral arms in front of which could be 2 field stars or one could be a very bright galactic nucleus. I'm going for the foreground stars.
Geoff

[Paul Haese]

That is a really cool field of view. So many interesting things to be seen within the field. Lovely colour saturation too. Very nice image Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks, Colin. It would be interesting to see the shape in 3D. Perhaps a project for the next holiday at home :)



Thanks very much, Mike! I don't think I've clipped anything (it's easy to see in PixInsight when you do) but I did do a hefty contrast curve at the end so maybe I went too far. I'll take a look when I get home. Don't think there's any faint jets or loops in this one.



Thanks, Geoff. I think you're talking about PGC6364. It looks like it has some faint spiral structure and a dim nucleus to me, so I'd agree they are foreground stars.



Thanks, Paul. Wasn't sure if I overdid the colour. I'm sure I went too far for some tastes ;)

Cheers,
Rick.

[RB]

Love it Rick.
Beautiful feature rich image.

RB

[multiweb]

Very cool. Looks like the old flash logo. :thumbsup:
I bet the galaxy doesn't show up at all on IOS. :P

[gregbradley]

Very nice Rick. Can't help thinking it would have been better at F9 on the C300 though. I guess its a long way to go to change the corrector! Cropping a 9 micron pixelled image at F4.9 at shorter focal length versus long focal length at 9 microns. I think there is a difference.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

Nice one Rick, a great image of this very interesting galaxy. The large field is a joy to surf around in.

[RickS]

Thanks, Andrew. Certainly colour rich :)



Ta, Marc :lol:



Thanks, Greg. I think you're right. We switched to f/4.9 when we had some collimation issues and the guys didn't have time to go back to f/9 before they had to leave. I can't decide if it's a good or a bad thing. I do love the bigger FOV but for galaxies you can't beat focal length (esp when you get seeing better than 1 arc sec.)



Thanks very much, Rolf!

[Ross G]

A great looking galaxy photo Rick.

So sharp with beautiful colours.

Nice wide composition.

Ross.

[RickS]

I did tweak it a little, Mikey. There's no extra faint stuff but the background looks a bit more natural. Thanks, matey!

http://www.astrobin.com/full/251388/C/



Thanks a lot, Ross.

[Shiraz]

gorgeous image Rick - the main object is beautifully defined and the background galaxies are spectacular

[RickS]

Thanks, Ray!

[strongmanmike]

Nice :thumbsup: great image :)

Mike

[Placidus]

Wow! One can zoom in for ages on the Mark of Zorro dust lanes, seeing ever more tiny jagged details. Same with the tiny blue dots of new star formation. Superb!

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike.



And thanks, M&T!

[rustigsmed]

wow - spectacular Rick, very rich colouring!

[RickS]

Thanks, Russ!

[Stevec35]

Almost missed this one. Love the rich colour and detail. Would probably look even better with a longer focal length.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve! We really should get that scope back to f/9. With the SRO seeing it should produce some great results. Unfortunately, it's a long drive for the only team member in California.

Cheers,
Rick.