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
48 Doris (A857 SA)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 216.473 km
- Albedo
- 0.065
- Rotation period
- 11.890 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 7.110 H
- Earth MOID
- 1.930 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt
- Discovery date
- 19 September 1857
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ d ɔːr ɪ s /
- Named after
- Doris
- Alternative designations
- 1857 SA, 1948 FE
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Dorian / ˈ d ɔːr i ə n /
- Aphelion
- 500.093 million km (3.343 AU)
- Perihelion
- 430.463 million km (2.877 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 465.278 million km (3.110 AU )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2003.453 d (5.49 a )
- Mean anomaly
- 336.191°
- Inclination
Article
48 Doris is one of the largest main belt asteroids. It was discovered on 19 September 1857 by Hermann Goldschmidt from his balcony in Paris.
To find a name for the object, Jacques Babinet of the Academy of Sciences created a shortlist and asked the geologist Élie de Beaumont to make the selection. De Beaumont chose Doris, after an Oceanid in Greek mythology. Since Doris was discovered on the same night as 49 Pales, de Beaumont suggested naming the two "The Twins".