Click for zoom
Pictured above is a galactic amalgam of the fantastic proportions, at the center of which lies the polar-ring galaxy NGC 660. Around it, space debris like gas and dust, the wreckage of a colossal galactic struggle, litter its surroundings. Only a few of these bizarre space objects have been discovered thus far.
NGC 660 is in Pisces, and the vast ring of stars and debris around it – 40,000 light-years across – came from another galaxy in a collision that astronomers can now begin to unpick. The whole scene was captured with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Fredrick C. Gillett Gemini North Telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano.
Accept reason, challenge the world and think. With my posts at ZME Science I try to bring bits of science to the people - of all kinds and backgrounds. Science is what will move the world past its current petty nature. Let's show everyone how science can change the world! 
Tip us on news, scientific reports and studies, scientific advances, science art, interesting phenomena or any kind of science related material. Just write to
Published on Fri, Oct 19, 2012 by Tibi Puiu
Post filled in: Observations, Space