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
- Austrian Naval Obs.
- Discovery date
- 23 February 1875
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ eɪ d r i ə /
- Named after
- Adriatic Sea
- Alternative designations
- A875 DA; 1960 WK 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 138.03 yr (50,415 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9688 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5557 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7622 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.59 yr (1,677 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 354.65 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Adriatic Sea
- Followed by
- 144 Vibilia
- Follows
- 142 Polana
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +95.377
- Mass
- +7.6
- Orbital period
- +1678.412436720506
Show 4 more facts
Article
143 Adria is a fairly large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 23 February 1875, at the Austrian Naval Observatory, and named after the Adriatic Sea, on the coast of which the discovery was made. This dark-coloured asteroid has probably a primitive carbonaceous chondritic composition.
One occultation by Adria has been reported so far, from Japan on August 21, 2000. A somewhat spherical shape measuring 98 × 86 km was observed.