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
- Pablo Cottenot
- Discovery date
- 2 February 1878
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ j uː k ə r ɪ s /
- Named after
- Eucharis
- Alternative designations
- A878 CB; 1906 GA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 123.63 yr (45157 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7664 AU (563.45 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.49280 AU (372.918 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.12958 AU (468.179 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.54 yr (2022.2 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 16.64 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 182 Elsa
- Follows
- 180 Garumna
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +115.383
- Orbital period
- +2016.352614144053
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
181 Eucharis is a large, slowly rotating main-belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Pablo Cottenot on February 2, 1878, from Marseille Observatory. It was his only asteroid discovery. This object was named after Eucharis, a nymph from the 17th-century novel Les Aventures de Télémaque. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.13 AU with a moderate eccentricity of 0.20 and an orbital period of 5.54 years.
In the Tholen classification system, it is categorized as a stony S-type asteroid, while the Bus asteroid taxonomy system lists it as an Xk asteroid. Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Goat Mountain Astronomical Research Station in Rancho Cucamonga, California during 2007 gave a light curve with a leisurely rotation period of 52.23 ± 0.05 hours. Based on infrared measurements, it has a diameter of 116 km.