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
- 19 April 1882
- Pronunciation
- / h ɛ n r i ˈ ɛ t ə /
- Named after
- Henrietta Jansen
- Alternative designations
- A882 HA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt ( Cybele )
- Observation arc
- 120.87 yr (44,148 d)
- Aphelion
- 4.28364 AU (640.823 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.4945 AU (373.17 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.38907 AU (506.998 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 6.24 yr (2,278.9 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 16.2 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 226 Weringia
- Follows
- 224 Oceana
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +95.934
- Orbital period
- +2287.561340633146
Show 4 more facts
- P720
- F-type asteroid
- P6259
Article
225 Henrietta is a very large outer main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on April 19, 1882, in Vienna and named after Henrietta, wife of astronomer Pierre J. C. Janssen. The asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 3.39 AU from the Sun with a period of 6.24 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.26. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 20.9° to the plane of the ecliptic. 225 Henrietta belongs to Cybele group of asteroids.
This is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material. It has a very dark surface, with an albedo of 0.040. Photometric measurements made from the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory during 2012 gave a light curve with a period of 7.352±0.003 h and a variation in brightness of 0.18±0.02 in magnitude. This is consistent with a synodic rotation period of 7.356±0.001 h determined in 2000. In 2001, the asteroid was detected by radar from the Arecibo Observatory at a distance of 1.58 AU. The resulting data yielded an effective diameter of 128±16 km.