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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 29 October 1888
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ f ɪ l i ə /
- Named after
- Philia (nymph)
- Alternative designations
- A888 UB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 126.17 yr (46,083 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.26133 AU (487.888 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.62787 AU (393.124 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.94460 AU (440.506 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.05 yr (1,845.6 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 52.7987 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 42.212 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- philia
- Followed by
- 281 Lucretia
- Follows
- 279 Thule
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +45.69
- Orbital period
- +1844.101698344334
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
280 Philia is a fairly large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 29 October 1888 at the Vienna Observatory.
Sparse data collected during a 1987 study indicated this asteroid has a rotation period of approximately 64 hours, which is much longer than can be continually observed from one site. During 2010−2011, an international collaboration to study the asteroid collected 9,037 photometric data points over 38 sessions. The resulting light curve analysis displays a rotation period of 70.26±0.03 h with a brightness variation of 0.15±0.02 in magnitude.