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
- R. S. Dugan
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 September 1903
- Named after
- Edith Eveleth, (discoverer's sister)
- Alternative designations
- 1903 MH · 1953 VS, A905 BB · A909 XA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 113.69 yr (41,525 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7279 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5889 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1584 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.61 yr (2,050 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 114.65 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 518 Halawe
- Follows
- Q155060
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +111.89
- Orbital period
- +2047.42581012987
Show 4 more facts
Article
517 Edith, provisional designation 1903 MH, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 83 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 1903, by American astronomer Raymond Dugan at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany, who named it after his sister Edith Eveleth.
Orbit and classification