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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Obs.
- Discovery date
- 29 September 1911
- Alternative designations
- 1911 MS
- Observation arc
- 113.31 yr (41,388 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.6666 AU (548.52 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4451 AU (365.78 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0559 AU (457.16 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.34 yr (1,951.2 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 5.10173 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 4.2 / day
- Inclination
- 6.9294°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.538°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 719 Albert
- Follows
- Q156714
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +70.911
- Orbital period
- +1964.548310629142
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
718 Erida is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered at Vienna on September 29, 1911, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa, and was named for Erida Leuschner, daughter of astronomer Armin Otto Leuschner. It is orbiting at a distance of 3.06 AU with a period of 5.34 yr and an eccentricity of 0.20. The orbital plane of this asteroid is inclined by an angle of 6.9° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric observations made during 2009 were used to produce a light curve for this asteroid that showed a rotation period of 17.447±0.002 h with a brightness variation of 0.37 in magnitude. It spans a girth of approximately 72 km.