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
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery date
- 31 July 1872
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɡ ɜːr d ə /
- Alternative designations
- A872 OA; 1948 TQ 1
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 143.71 yr (52491 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.32884 AU (497.987 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 3.11932 AU (466.644 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.22408 AU (482.316 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.79 yr (2114.5 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 16.59 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 163.616 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Gerðr
- Followed by
- Q137169
- Follows
- 121 Hermione
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +70.676
- Mass
- +570
- Orbital period
- +2116.347874111524
Show 4 more facts
Article
122 Gerda is a fairly large outer main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on July 31, 1872. It was named after Gerðr, the wife of the god Freyr in Norse mythology.
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.22 AU with a low eccentricity of 0.03 and an orbital period of 5.79 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 1.64° to the plane of the ecliptic. This body is listed as a member of the Hecuba group of asteroids that orbit near the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter.