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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Observatory
- Discovery date
- 19 August 1882
- Named after
- daughter of astronomer , Theodor v. Oppolzer
- Alternative designations
- A882 QA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
- Observation arc
- 130.80 yr
- Aphelion
- 2.73 AU (408 million km )
- Perihelion
- 1.67 AU (250 million km)
- Semi major axis
- 2.20 AU (329 million km)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.27 yr (1193.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 63.67 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q463917
- Follows
- 227 Philosophia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +9.3
- Orbital period
- +1192.87546235847
Show 5 more facts
- P720
Article
228 Agathe is a stony main belt asteroid, about 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 19 August 1882 at Vienna Observatory, Austria. Photometric observations during 2003 showed a rotation period of 6.48 ± 0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.27 ± 0.03 in magnitude. An earlier study yielded results that are consistent with these estimates. Agathe is the lowest numbered asteroid to have an Earth-MOID as low as 0.657 AU (98.3 million km). On 23 August 2029 the asteroid will be 0.659 AU (98.6 million km) from Earth.
Agathe was named after the youngest daughter of Austrian astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer (1841–1886), professor of astronomy in Vienna.