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
- G. Schiaparelli
- Discovery date
- April 29, 1861
- Pronunciation
- / h ɛ ˈ s p ɪər i ə /
- Named after
- Hesperia
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Hesperian / h ɛ ˈ s p ɪər i ə n /
- Aphelion
- 3.471 AU (519.3 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.489 AU (372.3 Gm )
- Semi major axis
- 2.980 AU (445.8 Gm )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,879 days (5.14 a )
- Inclination
- 8.59°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 184.99°
- Argument of perihelion
- 288.8°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 70 Panopaea
- Follows
- 68 Leto
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +138.13
- Orbital period
- +1876.200279095436
- Image
- 69Hesperia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
69 Hesperia is a large, M-type main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli on April 29, 1861 from Milan, while he was searching for the recently discovered 63 Ausonia. It was his only asteroid discovery. Schiaparelli named it Hesperia in honour of Italy (the word is a Greek term for the peninsula). The asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.14 years, a semimajor axis of 2.980 AU, and eccentricity of 0.165. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 8.59° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Hesperia was observed by Arecibo radar in February 2010. Radar observations combined with lightcurve-based shape models, lead to a diameter estimate of 110 ± 15 km (68 ± 9.3 mi). The radar albedo is consistent with a high-metal M-type asteroid. In the near infrared, a weak absorption feature near a wavelength of 0.9 μm can be attributed to orthopyroxenes on the surface. A meteorite analogue of the reflectance spectra from 69 Hesperia is the Hoba ataxite.