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
Small body data
287 Nephthys (A889 QA)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 59.615 km
- Albedo
- 0.238
- Rotation period
- 7.605 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 8.250 H
- Earth MOID
- 1.290 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery date
- 25 August 1889
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ n ɛ f θ ɪ s /
- Named after
- Nephthys
- Alternative designations
- A889 PB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 119.35 yr (43594 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4080 AU (360.23 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.29814 AU (343.797 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.3531 AU (352.02 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.61 yr (1318.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 125.74 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 23.016 / day
Article
287 Nephthys is a large Main belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on August 25, 1889, in Clinton, New York and named after the goddess, Nephthys in Egyptian mythology. It is classified as an S-type asteroid.
References