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
- Winchester, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 10 February 1913
- Pronunciation
- / k æ n ˈ t eɪ b i ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1913 QS
- Observation arc
- 103.10 yr (37,659 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3892 AU (507.02 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7145 AU (406.08 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0519 AU (456.56 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.33 yr (1,947.4 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 133.938 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 5.532 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q156862
- Follows
- Q156850
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +90.9
- Orbital period
- +1950.565690532753
Show 4 more facts
- P65
- Winchester
- P720
Article
740 Cantabia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered on 10 February 1913 at Winchester, Massachusetts by American amateur astronomer J. H. Metcalf. Cantabia is a contraction of Cantabrigia, Latin for Cambridge, named in honor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is orbiting at a distance of 3.05 AU with a period of 5.33 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.11. Between 2014 and 2021, 740 Cantabia has been observed to occult three stars.
This asteroid shows an exceptionally slow rate of spin. Photometry observations from two independent teams during 2009 were combined to generate a light curve showing a rotation period of 64.453 hours (2.69 days) with a brightness variation of 0.16±0.03 in magnitude. The spectrum is classified as type CX in the Tholen taxonomy. It spans a girth estimated at ~91 km.