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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 23 July 1908
- Pronunciation
- / d ɛ z d ɪ ˈ m oʊ n ə /
- Named after
- Desdemona , (character in Othello )
- Alternative designations
- 1908 DM
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 107.90 yr (39,410 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2102 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9755 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5928 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.18 yr (1,525 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 309.91 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Desdemona
- Followed by
- 667 Denise
- Follows
- 665 Sabine
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +32.741
- Orbital period
- +1526.144825176447
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- August Kopff
- P65
Article
666 Desdemona is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 July 1908, by German astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany, and named after Desdemona, character in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1908 DM.
Classification and orbit