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
- Ernst Wilhelm Tempel
- Discovery date
- August 29, 1862
- Pronunciation
- / ɡ æ l ə ˈ t iː ə /
- Named after
- Galatea
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Galatean
- Aphelion
- 515.376 million km (3.445 AU )
- Perihelion
- 315.937 million km (2.112 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 415.657 million km (2.778 AU)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1691.658 d (4.63 a )
- Mean anomaly
- 36.838°
- Inclination
- 4.075°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 197.313°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Galatea
- Followed by
- 75 Eurydike
- Follows
- 73 Klytia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +118.71
- Orbital period
- +1695.059538584755
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
74 Galatea is a large C-type main-belt asteroid. Its carbonaceous surface is very dark in color with an albedo of just 0.034. Galatea was found by the prolific comet discoverer Ernst Tempel on August 29, 1862, in Marseille, France. It was his third asteroid discovery. It is named after one of the two Galateas in Greek mythology. A stellar occultation by Galatea was observed on September 8, 1987. The name Galatea has also been given to one of Neptune's satellites.
Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 2008 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico gave a light curve with a period of 17.270 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.08 ± 0.01 in magnitude. The curve displays four minima and four maxima. The spectra of the asteroid does not display evidence of aqueous alteration.