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
- 29 January 1894
- Pronunciation
- / d ə ˈ d oʊ n ə /
- Named after
- Dodona
- Alternative designations
- 1894 AT
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 122.21 yr (44636 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.6577 AU (547.18 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.58301 AU (386.413 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1204 AU (466.81 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.51 yr (2013.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 6.32892 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 43.716 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Dodona
- Followed by
- Q152241
- Follows
- 381 Myrrha
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +65.209
- Orbital period
- +2027.660045795215
- Image
- 382Dodona (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
382 Dodona is a large Main belt asteroid that was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 29 January 1894 in Nice. It is classified as an M-type asteroid.
Measurements of the thermal inertia of 115 Thyra give an estimated range of 15–150 J m K s, compared to 50 for lunar regolith and 400 for coarse sand in an atmosphere.