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
- 8 March 1888
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ t r ə p ɒ s /
- Named after
- Atropos
- Alternative designations
- A888 EA, 1910 CC
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 105.94 yr (38695 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7792 AU (415.76 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.01097 AU (300.837 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.39507 AU (358.297 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.71 yr (1353.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 127.80 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 15 57.276 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Atropos
- Followed by
- 274 Philagoria
- Follows
- 272 Antonia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +29.768
- Orbital period
- +1353.550964689873
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
273 Atropos is a typical Main belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 8 March 1888 in Vienna.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2007 gave a light curve with a period of 23.852 ± 0.003 hours and a brightness variation of 0.60 ± 0.03 in magnitude.