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This composite image was obtained in Johnson-Bessel BVR filters taken during the first light of PFIP's Red+4 detector on the 27th of September 2013. The combined total exposure time was 40 minutes. Credits: Alex Tudorica (AIfA and ING collaborator) and Ovidiu Vaduvescu (ING) [ JPEG ].
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NGC 660 is a polar ring galaxy at a distance of about 43 million light years in the constellation of Pisces. Polar ring galaxies are named as such because a substantial proportion of the stellar population, gas and dust orbit the galaxy is placed in rings around the nucleus. These rings are thought to be created by interaction with a neighbouring galaxy.
The image shown above was obtained as part of the first light tests for the new Prime Focus Imaging Platform (PFIP) wide-field camera mounted on the William Herschel telescope. The new, large-format single-chip detector allows a wider field of view (18 arcminutes) than its predecessor and it provides a better response in the red wavelength range (less fringing and higher throughput).
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