Q152091
Sign in to saveAten asteroid and a co-orbital object with Earth
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
- Duncan Waldron
- Discovery date
- 10 October 1986
- Pronunciation
- English: / k r u ˈ iː n j ə / kroo- EEN -yə , Irish: [ ˈkɾˠɪ(h)nʲə, ˈkɾˠʊnʲə ]
- Named after
- Cruthin
- Alternative designations
- 1983 UH; 1986 TO
- Minor planet category
- NEO Aten horseshoe Venus-crosser Mars-crosser
- Observation arc
- 16087 days (44.04 yr)
- Aphelion
- 1.5114 AU (226,100,000 km )
- Perihelion
- 0.48405 AU (72,413,000 km)
- Semi major axis
- 0.99774 AU (149,260,000 km)
- Eccentricity
- 0.51485, (213000 wrt Earth)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1.00 yr (364.02 d )
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Named after
- Cruthin
- Followed by
- 3754 Kathleen
- Follows
- Q152076
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +2.071
- Mass
- +130000000000000
- Orbital period
- +364.0450994690112
- Image
- Cruithne.jpg
Show 4 more facts
Article
3753 Cruithne is a Q-type, Aten asteroid in orbit around the Sun in 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth, making it a co-orbital object. It is an asteroid that, relative to Earth, orbits the Sun in a bean-shaped orbit that effectively describes a horseshoe, and that can change into a quasi-satellite orbit. Cruithne does not orbit Earth and at times it is on the other side of the Sun, placing Cruithne well outside of Earth's Hill sphere. Its orbit takes it near the orbit of Mercury and outside the orbit of Mars. Cruithne orbits the Sun in about one Earth year, but it takes 770 years for the series to complete a horseshoe-shaped movement around Earth.
The asteroid takes its name from the Cruithne, a people mentioned in early Irish annals.