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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 30 August 1908
- Alternative designations
- 1908 DU
- Observation arc
- 98.67 yr (36039 d)
- Aphelion
Article
675 Ludmilla is a stony (S-type) minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was named after Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. This asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 2.7729 AU from the Sun with an orbital eccentricity of 0.20 and a period of 4.62 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 9.8° to the plane of the ecliptic. 675 Ludmilla is spinning with a period of 7.717 h.
Mass and density