Picture of the Day · NASA
NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
2026-05-26
The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660, a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has several bright blue spiral arms and a central bar of stars, dust, and gas. Captured by chance in the featured deep and colorful image, surprisingly, is SN 2026cff, a supernova found just to the right of the central bar. Farther in the distance is the bottom galaxy, known informally as Burçin’s galaxy, but formally cataloged as LEDA 1000714. The center of this galaxy appears to be an old elliptical galaxy, but it is strangely surrounded by not one but two rings of stars. What created Burçin's galaxy is a mystery and remains a continuing topic of research, but it likely involves the accretion of one or more smaller galaxies.
via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Ernst Wilhelm Tempel
- Discovery date
- 17 February 1868
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k l oʊ θ oʊ /
- Named after
- Clotho
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Klothoian / k l oʊ ˈ θ oʊ . i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 145.72 yr (53224 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3534 AU (501.66 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.99073 AU (297.809 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.67206 AU (399.734 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.37 yr (1595.4 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.93 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Article
97 Klotho is a fairly large main-belt asteroid. While it is a metallic M-type asteroid, its radar albedo is too low to allow a nickel-iron composition. Klotho is similar to 21 Lutetia and 22 Kalliope in that all three are M-types of unknown composition. Klotho was found by Ernst Tempel on February 17, 1868. It was his fifth and final asteroid discovery. It is named after Klotho or Clotho, one of the three Moirai, or Fates, in Greek mythology.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.67 AU with a moderate eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.25 and an orbital period of 4.37 years. Its orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 11.8° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. 13-cm radar observations of this asteroid from the Arecibo Observatory between 1980 and 1985 were used to produce a diameter estimate of 108 km.