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. Coggia , 1879
- Discovery date
- 28 February 1879
- Pronunciation
- / æ m ˈ b r oʊ ʒ i ə /
- Alternative designations
- A879 DB; 1915 RB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
Article
193 Ambrosia (Symbol:) is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by the Corsican-born French astronomer J. Coggia on February 28, 1879, and named after either Ambrosia, the food of the gods in Greek mythology, or Ambrosia, one of the Hyades. Lutz D. Schmadel argued that the second possibility was more likely, based on the fact that Coggia named another asteroid, 217 Eudora, after another of the Hyades.
In 2009, photometric observations of this asteroid were made at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The resulting light curve shows a synodic rotation period of 6.580 ± 0.001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.11 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This result is consistent with an independent study performed in 1996.