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
- Henri Joseph Perrotin
- Discovery date
- 21 September 1875
- Pronunciation
- / m ɪ ˈ dj uː s ə /
- Named after
- Medusa
- Alternative designations
- A875 SA; 1905 BA;, 1906 HB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 124.55 yr (45493 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.32 AU (346.60 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.03 AU (304.06 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.17 AU (325.33 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.21 yr (1,171.4 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 20.18 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Medusa
- Followed by
- Q140120
- Follows
- 148 Gallia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +23.719
- Mass
- +8.0
- Orbital period
- +1171.523442643531
- Image
- 149Medusa (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
149 Medusa is a bright-coloured, stony main-belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer J. Perrotin on September 21, 1875, and named after the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired monster in Greek mythology. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.17 AU with a period of 3.21 years and an eccentricity of 0.065. The orbital plane is tilted slightly at an angle of 0.94° to the plane of the ecliptic.
When it was discovered, Medusa was by far the smallest asteroid found (although this was not known at that time). Since then, many thousands of smaller asteroids have been found. It was also the closest asteroid to the Sun discovered up to that point, beating the long-held record of 8 Flora. It remained the closest asteroid to the Sun until 433 Eros and 434 Hungaria were found in 1898, leading to the discovery of two new families of asteroids inward from the 4:1 Kirkwood gap which forms the boundary of the main belt.