NGC 660, a starburst polar-ring galaxy

NGC 660 is a peculiar and unique polar-ring galaxy located approximately 45 million light-years from Earth in the Pisces constellation.

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. The violent gravitational interaction would account for the myriad star forming regions scattered along NGC 660's ring. Broader than the disk, NGC 660's ring spans over 50,000 light-years.

This image is acquired with CHI-3 by means of an advanced request.
Total exposure time: 160 minutes. LRGB 6:4:2:4 subs of 600s with each filter.