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
- S. B. Nicholson , H. Shapley
- Discovery site
- Mount Wilson Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 September 1916
- Named after
- Mildred Shapley Matthews
- Alternative designations
- 1916 f, 1985 VG 6 , 1991 GZ 8
- Minor planet category
- main-belt Nysa
- Observation arc
- 99.57 yr (36368 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8953 AU (433.13 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8286 AU (273.55 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.3619 AU (353.34 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.63 yr (1325.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 198.89 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157589
- Follows
- 877 Walküre
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +2.529
- Orbital period
- +1325.089242251696
Show 3 more facts
- P6259
Article
878 Mildred is a minor planet in the main belt orbiting the Sun. It is the lowest numbered, and thus the namesake, of the Mildred family of asteroids, a subgroup of the Nysa family. The Mildred subgroup, and by extension 878 Mildred itself, is thought to have been formed by a recent fragmentation event from a larger asteroid.
Discovery