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
- R. Luther
- Discovery date
- 2 April 1869
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h ɛ k j ʊ b ə /
- Named after
- Hecuba
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 135.87 yr (49628 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4190 AU (511.48 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 3.05922 AU (457.653 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.23912 AU (484.565 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.83 yr (2129.3 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 16.53 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 166.649 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 8.648 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hecuba
- Followed by
- 109 Felicitas
- Follows
- 107 Camilla
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +75.498
- Mass
- +390
- Orbital period
- +2122.570061154635
Show 4 more facts
Article
Spectral type S Absolute magnitude (H) 8.09
108 Hecuba is a fairly large and bright main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther on 2 April 1869, and named after Hecuba, wife of King Priam in the legends of the Trojan War in Greek Mythology. This object is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.83 years and an eccentricity of 0.06. It became the first asteroid discovered to orbit near a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with the planet Jupiter, and is the namesake of the Hecuba group of asteroids.