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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 4 February 1888
- Pronunciation
- / æ n ˈ t oʊ n i ə /
- Alternative designations
- A888 CA, 1944 FE
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 97.35 yr (35557 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8529 AU (426.79 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.70319 AU (404.391 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.77805 AU (415.590 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.63 yr (1691.2 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 307.768 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 46.296 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 273 Atropos
- Follows
- 271 Penthesilea
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +26.87
- Orbital period
- +1690.17828086913
- Image
- 272Antonia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 5 more facts
Article
272 Antonia is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 4 February 1888 in Nice.
Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 2008 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, gave a light curve with a short rotation period of 3.8548 ± 0.0001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.43 ± 0.04 in magnitude.