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
- Alphonse Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 19 April 1870
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l ɪ d i ə /
- Named after
- Lydia
- Alternative designations
- A870 HA; 1899 VA; 1972 YS 1
- Minor planet category
- Main belt Lydia family
- Observation arc
- 145.80 yr (53,255 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9539 AU (441.90 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.51115 AU (375.663 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7325 AU (408.78 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.52 yr (1649.9 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.99 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lydia
- Followed by
- 111 Ate
- Follows
- 109 Felicitas
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +86.09
- Orbital period
- +1650.0123837854
- Image
- 110Lydia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 5 more facts
Article
110 Lydia is a large belt asteroid with an M-type spectrum, and thus may be metallic in composition, consisting primarily of nickel-iron. It was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on 19 April 1870 and was named for Lydia, the Asia Minor country populated by Phrygians. The Lydia family of asteroids is named after it.
Observations made during 1958–1959 at the McDonald Observatory and in 1969 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory found an uneven light curve with a period of 10.9267 hours. In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide used light curves to derive spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including (110) Lydia. They obtained a period of 10.92580 hours, with the brightness varying by no more than 0.2 in magnitude.