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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 February 1932
- Pronunciation
- kətlɛta
- Named after
- Adolphe Quetelet , (Belgian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 CB · 1978 TH 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 85.80 yr (31,340 d )
- Aphelion
- 3.2824 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0383 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6603 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.34 yr (1,585 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Adolphe Quetelet
- Followed by
- Q137248
- Follows
- Q137230
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +18.681
- Orbital period
- +1586.714401493275
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1239 Queteleta (kətlɛta), provisional designation 1932 CB, is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 February 1932, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named after Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian astronomer and mathematician.
Discovery