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 date
- 7 August 1879
- Pronunciation
- / p ɪ ˈ n ɛ l ə p iː /
- Named after
- Penelópē
- Alternative designations
- A879 PA; 1869 GA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Penelopean / p ɪ ˈ n ɛ l oʊ ˈ p iː ə n /
- Observation arc
- 142.58 yr (52,077 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.160 AU (472.710 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.199 AU (329.009 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.680 AU (400.859 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.39 yr (1,602.14 d)
- Average orbital speed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Penelope
- Followed by
- 202 Chryseïs
- Follows
- 200 Dynamene
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +85.877
- Orbital period
- +1603.285266736843
- Image
- 201Penelope (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
201 Penelope is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on August 7, 1879, in Pola. The asteroid is named after Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer's The Odyssey. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.68 AU with an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.18 and a period of 4.381 years. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 5.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Based upon the spectra of this object, it is classified as a M-type asteroid, indicating it may be metallic in composition. It may be the remnant of the core of a larger, differentiated asteroid. Near infrared absorption features indicate the presence of variable amounts of low-iron, low-calcium orthopyroxenes on the surface. Trace amounts of water is detected with a mass fraction of about 0.13–0.15 wt%. It has an estimated size of around 88 km. With a rotation period of 3.74 hours, it is the fastest rotating asteroid larger than 50 km in diameter.