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
- 16 July 1898
- Pronunciation
- / r oʊ ˈ d aɪ ə /
- Named after
- Ῥόδεια Rhodeia
- Alternative designations
- 1898 DP
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 117.73 yr (43,001 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9793 AU (445.70 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.79242 AU (268.142 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.38586 AU (356.920 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.69 yr (1,346.1 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 355.267 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 2.82 / day
Article
437 Rhodia is a Main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 16 July 1898 in Nice. It was named after one of the Oceanid nymphs of Greek mythology. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.39 AU with a period of 3.69 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.25. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 7.3° to the plane of the ecliptic. 437 Rhodia was originally a proposed fly-by target of interest for the Rosetta mission.
Analysis of the bimodal light curve generated using photometric data show a lengthy rotation period of 433.2 ± 0.5 hours (18.05 ± 0.02 days) with a brightness variation of 0.35±0.05 in magnitude. It also appears to be tumbling. 437 Rhodia is classified as an E-type asteroid with a diameter of approximately 13 km. This object has the highest albedo in the IRAS dataset, with a value of 0.70±0.08.