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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 29 February 1880
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ ʃ ɪər ə /
- Alternative designations
- A880 DB, 1903 SE, 1947 BP, 1948 JE, 1949 QG 2 , 1949 SX 1 , 1950 XH, 1953 OO
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 136.09 yr (49707 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6938 AU (402.99 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5279 AU (378.17 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6108 AU (390.57 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1,540.9 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 18.43 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 167.065 °
- Mean motion
Article
214 Aschera is a Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on February 29, 1880, in Pola and was named after the Sidonian goddess Asherah. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.61 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.032 and an orbital period of 4.22 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.44° to the plane of the ecliptic.
It is classified as a rare E-type asteroid and is fairly faint for an object of its type. The overall diameter is estimated to be 23 km and it has a geometric albedo of 0.52. Photometric data collected during September 2021 was used the generate a lightcurve for 214 Aschera. This showed a rotation period of 6.833±0.004 h with a brightness variation of 0.20 magnitude. Using a tri-axial ellipsoidal model derived from light curve data, the overall shape of the asteroid is estimated to be a/b = 1.24 ± 0.12 and b/c = 1.83 ± 0.10, where a, b, c are the three axes of an ellipsoid.