An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Any group of five things or persons. → Stephan's Quintet.

From Fr. quintette, from It. quintetto, diminutive of quinto "fifth," from L. quintus, related to quinque "five" cognate with Pers. panj→ five.

Panjtâyé, from panj, → five, + tâ "fold, plait, ply, part;" Mid.Pers. tâg "piece, part" + -(y)é nuance suffix.

A group of five closely grouped galaxies (NGC 7317, 7318A, 7318B, 7319 and 7320) in the constellation → Pegasus. Four of the galaxies show essentially the same → redshift, suggesting that they are at the same distance from us. The fifth galaxy (NGC 7320) has a smaller redshift than the others, indicating it is much closer. This one is probably a foreground galaxy which happens to lie along the line of sight. The four distant galaxies seem to be colliding, showing serious distortions due to gravitational → tidal forces. The NASA → Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the presence of a huge intergalactic → shock wave. Collisions play an important role in the life cycles of galaxies. → merging galaxies.

Named after the French astronomer Edouard Stéphan (1837-1923), who discovered the group in 1877 at Marseilles Observatory, using the → Foucault's reflector; → quintet.