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
- 8 January 1908
- Pronunciation
- / k r ə ˈ s ɛ n ʃ ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1908 CC
- Observation arc
- 106.74 yr (38987 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8075 AU (420.00 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2581 AU (337.81 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5328 AU (378.90 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.03 yr (1472.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 185.507 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 40.272 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q114673
- Follows
- 659 Nestor
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +42.302
- Orbital period
- +1472.364514222309
Show 4 more facts
- P65
- Taunton
- P720
Article
660 Crescentia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on January 8, 1908. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1908 CC. Peter Ting points out that the Rev. Joel Metcalf of Taunton (Massachusetts) discovered six asteroids with unexplained names, though listed in Lutz Schmadel's book. Ting used an on-line planetarium website to help with the location of some of the planets, playing back to the night of discovery. He noticed that there was a crescent moon (33%) low in the western sky and wonders if the Rev. Metcalf could have named the asteroid for the Moon. Crescentia would be a very unusual name for a person but not for a phase of the Moon.
Crescentia is a member of the dynamic Maria family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.