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
- 8 February 1878
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɪ s t r i ə /
- Named after
- Istrian Peninsula , (in the Adriatic Sea )
- Alternative designations
- A878 CD; 1948 CG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 112.08 yr (40,937 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7699 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8117 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7908 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.66 yr (1,703 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Istria
- Followed by
- 184 Dejopeja
- Follows
- 182 Elsa
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +32.927
- Orbital period
- +1706.882707480147
- Image
- 183Istria (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
183 Istria is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 33 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 1878, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pola, in what is now Croatia. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.77 hours. It was named for the Istrian Peninsula.
Orbit and classification