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
98 Ianthe (A868 HA)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 132.788 km
- Albedo
- 0.029
- Rotation period
- 16.479 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 8.950 H
- Earth MOID
- 1.200 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery date
- 18 April 1868
- Pronunciation
- / aɪ ˈ æ n θ iː /
- Named after
- Ianthe
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Ianthean / aɪ ə n ˈ θ iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 145.23 yr (53047 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.18807 AU (476.928 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.18872 AU (327.428 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.68839 AU (402.177 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.41 yr (1610.0 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.01 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 99 Dike
- Follows
- 97 Klotho
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +132.788
- Orbital period
- +1609.046799963197
- Image
- 98Ianthe (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
98 Ianthe is a large main-belt asteroid, named for three figures in Greek mythology. It is very dark and is composed of carbonates. It was one of the numerous (for his time—the 19th century) discoveries by C. H. F. Peters, who found it on April 18, 1868, from Clinton, New York.
This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.41 years and an eccentricity of 0.186. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 15.6° to the plane of the ecliptic. Measurements of the cross-section dimension yield a size of around 105 km. Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico were used to create a light curve plot. This showed a synodic rotation period of 16.479±0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.27±0.02 magnitude during each cycle. It is classified as a C-type asteroid, indicating a dark, carbonaceous surface.