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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery site
- Austrian Naval Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 March 1874
- Named after
- Austria
- Alternative designations
- A874 FA · 1950 HT
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , background
- Observation arc
- 141.11 yr (51,539 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4812 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0927 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2869 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.46 yr (1,263 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 102.82 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 6 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Austria
- Followed by
- Q138460
- Follows
- 135 Hertha
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +36.893
- Mass
- +68
- Orbital period
- +1263.272701269472
Show 5 more facts
Article
136 Austria is a main-belt asteroid that was found by the prolific asteroid discoverer Johann Palisa on 18 March 1874, from the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pola, Istria. It was his first asteroid discovery and was given the Latin name of his homeland. This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.29 AU with an eccentricity of 0.08 and an orbital period of 3.46 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 9.6° to the plane of the ecliptic.
The cross-sectional diameter of this asteroid is 40.14 km. Based upon its spectrum, it is classified as a metallic M-type spectrum, although Clark et al. (1994) suggest it may be more like a stony S-type asteroid. It shows almost no absorption features in the near infrared, which may indicate an iron or enstatite chondrite surface composition. A weak hydration feature was detected in 2006.