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
- N. R. Pogson
- Discovery site
- Madras Obs.
- Discovery date
- 2 May 1864
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ s æ f oʊ /
- Named after
- Sappho (Greek poet)
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Adjectives
- Sapphonian / s æ ˈ f oʊ n i ə n / , Sapphoian / s æ ˈ f oʊ . i ə n /
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Aphelion
- 2.7544 AU (412.05 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8370 AU (274.81 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2957 AU (343.43 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.48 yr (1270.5 d )
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Sappho
- Followed by
- 81 Terpsichore
- Follows
- 79 Eurynome
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +68.563
- Orbital period
- +1270.972831427556
- Image
- 80Sappho (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- N. R. Pogson
Article
80 Sappho (symbol: ) is a large, S-type (stony) main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by English astronomer Norman Pogson on 2 May 1864, and is named after Sappho, the Archaic Greece poet. The asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.2957 AU with a period of 3.48 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.2. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 8.68° to the plane of the ecliptic.
13-cm radar observations of this asteroid from the Arecibo Observatory between 1980 and 1985 were used to produce a diameter estimate of 83 kilometres (52 mi). Hanuš et al. (2013) confirmed the polar axis has ecliptic coordinates (λ, β) = (194°, −26°) and listed a rotation period of 14.03087 h.