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
- W. Lorenz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 22 January 1909
- Alternative designations
- 1909 FS
- Observation arc
- 103.26 yr (37,715 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1352 AU (469.02 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0122 AU (301.02 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5737 AU (385.02 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.13 yr (1,508.1 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 73.755 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 19.356 / day
- Inclination
- 6.0824°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 281.416°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 679 Pax
- Follows
- Q156423
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +39.585
- Orbital period
- +1506.568423433723
Show 4 more facts
Article
678 Fredegundis is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered 22 January 1909 from Heidelberg by German astronomer K. Wilhelm Lorenz, and was named after the French opera Frédégonde. This object is orbiting at a distance of 2.57 AU with a period of 4.13 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.22. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 6.1° to the plane of the ecliptic
This appears to be an M-type asteroid in the Tholen classification and X-type in the Bus and Binzel system. It spans a girth of approximately 42 km and is spinning with a rotation period of 11.6201 hours. Radar observations suggest a bifurcated structure consistent with a contact binary.