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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery site
- Litchfield Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 February 1874
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h ɜːr θ ə /
- Named after
- Nerthus , (Norse mythology)
- Alternative designations
- A874 DA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Nysa (Hertha)
- Observation arc
- 133.34 yr (48,701 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9320 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9239 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4279 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.78 yr (1,382 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 233.89 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Nerthus
- Followed by
- 136 Austria
- Follows
- 134 Sophrosyne
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +79.24
- Orbital period
- +1380.943866130222
- Image
- 135Hertha (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
135 Hertha is an asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt, approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) in diameter. Discovered on 18 February 1874 by German–American astronomer Christian Peters at the Litchfield Observatory near Clinton, New York, it was named after the Teutonic and Scandinavian goddess of fertility, Hertha, also known as Nerthus. It orbits among the Nysa asteroid family, but its classification as a metallic M-type asteroid does not match the more common F-type asteroid for this family, suggesting that it may be an interloper. Spectroscopic analysis indicates the possible presence of hydrated silicates indicating that Hertha should possibly be reclassified from its present M-type to the proposed W-type.
Lightcurve data from Hertha indicates a flattened body, and radar observations indicate that Hertha is non-metallic. Five occultations of stars by the asteroid have been observed between 2000 and 2015.