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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 11 December 1909
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l iː h aɪ /
- Alternative designations
- 1909 JG
- Observation arc
- 101.40 yr (37038 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3787 AU (505.45 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6443 AU (395.58 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0115 AU (450.51 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.23 yr (1908.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 189.349 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 18.924 / day
- Inclination
- 13.010°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 692 Hippodamia
- Follows
- 690 Wratislavia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +79.451
- Orbital period
- +1906.184929560064
Show 4 more facts
- P65
- Taunton
- P720
Article
691 Lehigh is an asteroid orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt, discovered in 1909. It is named after Lehigh University, where its orbit was calculated in the Masters Thesis of Joseph B. Reynolds, following the observations of amateur astronomer Joel Metcalf. The asteroid is a CD:-type asteroid, suggesting its surface is largely carbonaceous, with many primitive molecules similar to those of comets. Due to this, it has a cometlike surface albedo of just 0.05, similar to fresh asphalt, meaning that it reflects only 5% of light that hits it. Lehigh is not known to be a member of any collisional asteroid family.
References