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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 3 August 1918
- Pronunciation
- German: [ joːkastə ] , Classically: p / dʒ oʊ ˈ k æ s t iː /
- Alternative designations
- 1918 EB
- Observation arc
- 97.71 yr (35688 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4884 AU (521.86 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3242 AU (347.70 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9063 AU (434.78 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.95 yr (1809.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 229.912 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 56.148 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157742
- Follows
- 898 Hildegard
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +31.018
- Orbital period
- +1808.685077313957
Show 4 more facts
Article
899 Jokaste is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was one of five minor planets included in the 1993 study, Transition Comets -- UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids, which was research involving amateur astronomers who were permitted to make use of the Hubble Space Telescope. Not to be confused with Iocaste, a moon of Jupiter.
References