AI overview
Q147891 is a rocky body orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While individual asteroids like this one are numerous, studying them helps scientists understand the early solar system and assess potential impact risks to Earth.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Pola Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 April 1880
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ k l i ə ˈ p æ t r ə /
- Named after
- Cleopatra (Egyptian queen)
- Alternative designations
Article
216 Kleopatra is a large M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 120 kilometers (75 miles) and is noted for its elongate bone or dumbbell shape. It was discovered on 10 April 1880 by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Pola Observatory, in what is now Pula, Croatia, and was named after Cleopatra VII, the famous Egyptian queen. It has two small minor-planet moons which were discovered in 2008 and later named Alexhelios and Cleoselene.
Orbit and classification