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
- 19 August 1893
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p æ l m ə /
- Named after
- Palma
- Alternative designations
- 1893 AH
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 122.54 yr (44757 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.9693 AU (593.80 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.33325 AU (349.049 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.15125 AU (471.420 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.59 yr (2043.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 275.769 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 34.284 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Palma
- Followed by
- 373 Melusina
- Follows
- 371 Bohemia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +173.642
- Orbital period
- +2054.11492178491
- Image
- 372Palma (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
372 Palma is one of the largest main-belt asteroids. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on August 19, 1893, in Nice. The name is thought to come from the capital city of Mallorca, an island of the Balearic Islands (Spain), which is located south of France. It is one of seven of Charlois's discoveries that were expressly named by the Astromomisches Rechen-Institut (Astronomical Calculation Institute).
Plot of an occultation of the star HIP 41975 observed on January 26, 2007, by a group of American home-based and mobile citizen astronomers This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.15 AU with a moderate eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.26 and an orbital period of 5.59 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 23.8° relative to the plane of the ecliptic. It is classified as a B-type asteroid and is spinning with a rotation period of 8.567 hours.