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
- Hermann Goldschmidt
- Discovery site
- Paris Observatory
- Discovery date
- 19 September 1857
- Designation
- (49) Pales
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p eɪ l iː z /
- Named after
- Pales
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Palian / ˈ p eɪ l i ə n / ; Palilian / p ə ˈ l ɪ l i ə n / (adj. only)
- Aphelion
- 3.7989 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4030 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.10093 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1994.51 days (5.46 years)
- Mean anomaly
- 169.53°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Pales
- Followed by
- 50 Virginia
- Follows
- 48 Doris
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +166.252
- Orbital period
- +1991.744823998575
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
49 Pales (/ˈpeɪliːz/) is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt on 19 September 1857 from his balcony in Paris. The asteroid is named after Pales, the goddess of shepherds in Roman mythology. Since it was discovered on the same night as 48 Doris, geologist Élie de Beaumont suggested naming the two "The Twins".
The orbit of this asteroid has close to a 2:1 commensurability with the orbit of Jupiter. On 17 January 2000, this minor planet was observed occulting a 9th magnitude star from seven locations. These timed chords across the silhouette allowed an estimate to be made of the object's dimensions, yielding a cross-section of 251 km × 160 km.