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
- J. Palisa , 1879
- Discovery date
- 19 April 1879
- Pronunciation
- / j ʊ r ɪ ˈ k l iː ə /
- Alternative designations
- A879 HA; 1949 QB 2
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 131.99 yr (48,208 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.00 AU (449.33 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.75 AU (411.29 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.88 AU (430.30 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.88 yr (1,781.9 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 113.56°
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 7.308 / day
- Inclination
- 6.9718°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Eurycleia
- Followed by
- 196 Philomela
- Follows
- 194 Prokne
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +93.109
- Orbital period
- +1783.2211959311
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
195 Eurykleia is a fairly large main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on April 19, 1879, and named after Euryclea, the wet-nurse of Odysseus in The Odyssey.
This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.88 years and a low eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.04. The orbital plane is inclined by 7° from the plane of the ecliptic. It is spinning with a rotation period of 16.5 hours and varies in brightness with an amplitude of 0.24 magnitude. The cross-section diameter of this body is 43 km. The asteroid has a taxonomic type of Ch in the SMASS classification, which indicates it has a dark surface with a primitive carbonaceous composition.