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
- Raymond Smith Dugan
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 7 May 1904
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m ɒ n t ə ɡ juː / MON -tə-ghew
- Alternative designations
- 1904 OC
- Observation arc
- 111.95 yr (40889 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6316 AU (393.68 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5073 AU (375.09 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5694 AU (384.38 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.12 yr (1504.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 165.239 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 21.48 / day
- Inclination
- 6.7774°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Montague
- Followed by
- 536 Merapi
- Follows
- 534 Nassovia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +79.299
- Orbital period
- +1503.591307833354
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
535 Montague is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by Raymond Smith Dugan on 7 May 1904 in Heidelberg, Germany. It was named after the town Montague in Massachusetts.
Photometric observations of this asteroid give a light curve with a period of 10.248 hours.