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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 11 February 1893
- Alternative designations
- 1893 J
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 108.56 yr (39650 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.38973 AU (507.096 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.92272 AU (437.233 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.15623 AU (472.165 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.61 yr (2,048.1 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 144.322 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 32.783 / day
- Inclination
- 15.0642°
- Longitude of ascending node
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q151864
- Follows
- Q151832
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +124.107
- Orbital period
- +2041.168562336525
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
357 Ninina is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on February 11, 1893, in Nice. The reference of its name is not known, though Ninine is a French personal name. This minor planet is orbiting at a distance of 3.16 AU from the Sun with a period of 5.61 years and an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.074. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 15.1° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric observations of 357 Ninina during 2023 provided a light curve that presents an Earth commensurate rotation period of 36.00±0.01 h with a brightness amplitude of 0.08±0.01 in magnitude. In 2024, spin shape modelling using the light curve inversion technique show a blocky, rounded figure, with a refined rotation period of 35.9840±0.0005 h