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 , 1879
- Discovery date
- 27 July 1879
- Pronunciation
- / d aɪ ˈ n æ m ɪ n iː /
- Alternative designations
- A879 OA; 1904 CA;, 1955 HZ; 1961 TO 1 ;, 1974 HE 1
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 136.47 yr (49845 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1020 AU (464.05 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3728 AU (354.97 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7374 AU (409.51 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.53 yr (1654.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 10.506 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 3.432 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Dynamene
- Followed by
- 201 Penelope
- Follows
- 199 Byblis
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +128.301
- Orbital period
- +1654.834347491248
Show 4 more facts
Article
200 Dynamene is a large dark main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters on July 27, 1879, in Clinton, New York. The name derives from Dynamene, one of the fifty Nereids in Greek mythology. Based upon its spectrum, 200 Dynamene is classified as a C-type asteroid, indicating that it probably has a primitive composition similar to the carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 2011 gave a light curve with a period of 37.394 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.10 ± 0.01 in magnitude. The curve is asymmetrical with four uneven minima and maxima.