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
- 30 November 1894
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ d iː l i ə /
- Named after
- Artemis Delia
- Alternative designations
- 1894 BK
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 89.57 yr (32,714 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.021 AU (451.9 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.550 AU (381.5 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.785 AU (416.6 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.64 yr (1,696.3 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 277.5°
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 43.2 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Artemis
- Followed by
- Q152414
- Follows
- 394 Arduina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +44.189
- Orbital period
- +1700.523114536088
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
395 Delia is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 30 November 1894 in Nice. "Delia" is an epithet for the ancient Greco-Roman Moon goddess Artemis, for her birthplace at Delos. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.79 AU with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.085 and a period of 4.64 yr. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 3.35° to the plane of the ecliptic.
This is a dark, carbonaceous body with a low albedo of 0.03 and is classified as a C-type asteroid in the Tholen taxonomy. It has an estimated cross-section of 44.2 km/s and is spinning with a rotation period of 19.7 hours.