The stellar content of the ring in NGC 660

Abstract

We present the results of stellar photometry of the polar-ring galaxy NGC 660 using the Hubble Space Telescope's archival data obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The final list of the resolved stars contains 550 objects, a considerable part of which are blue and red supergiants belonging to the polar ring. The analysis of the Colour-Magnitude Diagram for polar ring stars shows that it is best represented by the isochrones with metallicity Z = 0.008. The process of star formation in the polar ring was continuous and the age of the youngest detected stars is about 7 Myr.

Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.