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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 22 February 1908
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k l iː l i ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1908 CL
- Observation arc
- 97.95 yr (35777 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1190 AU (466.60 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.9143 AU (435.97 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0166 AU (451.28 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.24 yr (1913.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 248.593 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 17.232 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 662 Newtonia
- Follows
- Q114710
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +40.081
- Orbital period
- +1912.602227373202
- Image
- Орбита астероида 661.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
661 Cloelia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on February 22, 1908.
Cloelia is a member of the dynamic Eos family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.