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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 March 1892
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɡ ʊ d r uː n /
- Named after
- Gudrun
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 104.41 yr (38135 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.43998 AU (514.614 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.78126 AU (416.071 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.11062 AU (465.342 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.486 yr (2,003.9 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 325.246 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 46.747 / day
Article
328 Gudrun is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on March 18, 1892, in Heidelberg. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.11 AU with a period of 5.486 yr and an orbital eccentricity of 0.106. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 16.1° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Analysis of the light curve generated from photometric data collected in March 2012 provide a rotation period estimate of 10.992±0.002 h with a brightness variation of 0.32±0.02 in B magnitude. A study in 2022 found a classification of Cgh for 328 Gudrun, suggesting this is a dark, carbonaceous asteroid.