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
679 Pax (A909 BR)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 63.909 km
- Albedo
- 0.110
- Rotation period
- 8.452 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 9.140 H
- Earth MOID
- 0.959 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 28 January 1909
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p æ k s /
- Alternative designations
- 1909 FY
- Observation arc
- 106.90 yr (39044 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3910 AU (507.29 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.7808 AU (266.40 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5859 AU (386.85 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.16 yr (1518.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 33.4022 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 13.272 / day
- Inclination
- 24.387°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Pax
- Followed by
- Q156450
- Follows
- Q156436
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +63.909
- Orbital period
- +1518.53880903257
- Image
- 679Pax (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- August Kopff
Article
679 Pax is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on January 28, 1909. It is named after Pax, a Roman goddess. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.16 years, a semimajor axis of 2.59 AU, and a moderately high eccentricity of 0.31. The last causes it to vary in distance from the Sun over the course of its orbit, ranging from 1.78 to 3.39 AU. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 24.4° relative to the plane of the ecliptic.
Measurements using the adaptive optics at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a mean diameter of 62 km. This is 16% larger than the diameter estimated using the IRAS observatory. The asteroid is elongated with a size ratio of 1.66 ± 0.23 between the major and minor axes. Photometric measurements reported in 1982 gave a rotation period of 8.452 hours. The asteroid's pole of rotation lies 32° away from the plane of the ecliptic.