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
- R. Luther
- Discovery date
- 19 April 1855
- Designation
- (35) Leukothea
- Pronunciation
- / lj uː ˈ k ɒ θ i ə /
- Named after
- Λευκοθέα Leykothea
- Alternative names
- 1948 DC; 1950 RS 1 ; 1976 WH
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Leukothean / lj uː ˈ k ɒ θ i ə n /
- Symbol
- (historical)
- Aphelion
- 3.659 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.353 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.006 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.211 yr (1903.34 d)
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Leucothea
- Followed by
- 36 Atalante
- Follows
- 34 Circe
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +103.055
- Orbital period
- +1903.340924153616
- Image
- 35Leukothea (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
35 Leukothea is a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Theodor Robert Luther on 19 April 1855, and named after Leukothea, a sea goddess in Greek mythology. Its historical symbol was a pharos (ancient lighthouse); it was encoded in Unicode 17.0 as U+1CED0 ().
Leukothea is a C-type asteroid in the Tholen classification system, suggesting a carbonaceous composition. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.17 years and has a cross-sectional size of 103.1 km.