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
Small body data
315 Constantia (A891 RB)
- Orbit class
- Main-belt Asteroid
- Diameter
- 6.534 km
- Albedo
- 0.217
- Rotation period
- 5.345 h
- Absolute magnitude
- 12.560 H
- Earth MOID
- 0.853 AU
via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 4 September 1891
- Pronunciation
- / k ə n ˈ s t æ n ʃ ( i ) ə /
- Named after
- constancy ( virtue )
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
- Observation arc
- 87.27 yr (31874 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.61963 AU (391.891 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.86231 AU (278.598 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.24097 AU (335.244 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.35 yr (1225.3 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 19.9 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 86.6748 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- consistency
- Followed by
- Q150938
- Follows
- 314 Rosalia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +6.534
- Orbital period
- +1225.62063474102
- Image
- 000315-asteroid shape model (315) Constantia.png
Show 3 more facts
Article
315 Constantia is a stony background asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt, approximately 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory on 4 September 1891. The asteroid is a member of the Flora family. It is spinning with a rotation period of 5.345±0.003 h and shows a brightness variation of 0.57±0.2 in magnitude.
References