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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 17 January 1893
- Pronunciation
- / ɛ l i ə ˈ n ɔːr ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1893 A
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Eleonorian
- Observation arc
- 123.16 yr (44983 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1188 AU (466.57 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.47676 AU (370.518 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.79777 AU (418.540 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.68 yr (1709.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 123.762 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 38.196 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 355 Gabriella
- Follows
- Q151766
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +148.97
- Orbital period
- +1711.963555942836
- Image
- 354Eleonora (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
354 Eleonora is a large, stony main-belt asteroid that was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on January 17, 1893, in Nice. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.80 AU with a moderate eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.11 and an orbital period of 4.68 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 18.4° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric observations of this asteroid gave a light curve with a period of 13.623 hours. The data was used to construct a model for the asteroid, revealing it to be a regular-shaped object, spinning about a pole with ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (+20°, 356°), although this is with an accuracy of only ±10°. The ratio of the major to minor axes lengths is roughly equal to 1.2.