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. C. Watson
- Discovery site
- Ann Arbor Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 November 1877
- Pronunciation
- / k l ɪ t ɪ m ˈ n ɛ s t r ə /
- Named after
- Clytemnestra , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- A877 VC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Telramund
- Observation arc
- 119.12 yr (43,507 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3085 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6356 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9720 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.12 yr (1,871 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Clytemnestra
- Followed by
- 180 Garumna
- Follows
- 178 Belisana
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +69.946
- Orbital period
- +1872.115397153214
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
179 Klytaemnestra is a stony Telramund asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 11 November 1877, by Canadian-American astronomer James Craig Watson at the old Ann Arbor Observatory in Michigan, United States. It was his last discovery three years before his death. The transitional S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.17 hours. It was named after Clytemnestra from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification