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 date
- 25 September 1892
- Named after
- Heinrich Eduard von Lade
- Alternative designations
- 1892 H
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 116.98 yr (42727 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0610 AU (457.92 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.43203 AU (363.827 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.74650 AU (410.871 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.55 yr (1662.5 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 23.6445 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 59.544 / day
- Inclination
- 4.6773°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Heinrich Eduard von Lade
- Followed by
- Q151526
- Follows
- Q151462
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +28.025
- Orbital period
- +1662.924614188399
- Image
- 340Eduarda (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
Article
340 Eduarda is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on 25 September 1892 in Heidelberg. It was named after German banker and amateur astronomer Heinrich Eduard von Lade.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Oakley Observatory in Terre Haute, Indiana, during 2006 gave a light curve with a period of 8.04 ± 0.02 hours and a brightness variation of 0.25 ± 0.03 in magnitude.