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
- 13 October 1879
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m ɑːr θ ə /
- Named after
- Martha of Bethany
- Alternative designations
- A879 TB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 136.51 yr (49860 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8758 AU (430.21 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6783 AU (400.67 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7771 AU (415.45 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.63 yr (1690.3 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.87 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 198.37 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Martha
- Followed by
- 206 Hersilia
- Follows
- 204 Kallisto
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +76.983
- Orbital period
- +1690.298278556165
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
205 Martha is a large main belt asteroid. It is a dark, primitive carbonaceous C-type asteroid. This object was discovered by Johann Palisa on 13 October 1879, in Pola and was named after Martha, a woman in the New Testament.
Efforts to determine the rotation period for this asteroid have produced wildly different results, in large part because the actual period is close to half of an Earth day. A study performed during 2013 showed that the light curve changed significantly during the observation period, adding to the difficulty. This study gave a synodic rotation period of 14.905 ± 0.001 h.