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617 Patroclus

Jupiter trojan

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: A. Kopff
Discovery site: Heidelberg Obs.
Discovery date: 17 October 1906
Pronunciation: / p ə ˈ t r oʊ k l ə s /
Named after: Πάτροκλος Patroklos , ( Greek mythology )
Alternative designations: 1906 VY · 1941 XC, 1962 NB
Minor planet category: Jupiter trojan , Trojan · background
Adjectives: Patroclean / p æ t r ə ˈ k l iː ə n /
Aphelion: 5.937 AU
Perihelion: 4.480 AU
Semi major axis: 5.209 AU
Orbital period sidereal: 11.89 yr (4,342 d)
Mean anomaly

Wikidata facts

Instance of: asteroid
Named after: Patroclus
Followed by: 618 Elfriede
Follows: 616 Elly
Parent body: Sun
Child body: Menoetius
Diameter: +140.362
Mass: +1360000000000000000
Orbital period: +4338.731237960914
Image: 617 Patroclus Hubble.jpg

Show 4 more facts

Article

617 Patroclus (/pəˈtroʊkləs/ pə-TROH-kləs) is a large binary Jupiter trojan asteroid. It is a dark D-type asteroid and a slow rotator, due to the 103-hour orbital period of its two components. It is one of five Jupiter trojan asteroids targeted by the Lucy space probe, and is scheduled for a flyby in 2033.

Patroclus was discovered on 17 October 1906, by astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg Observatory in Germany, and was named after Patroclus in Greek mythology. It was the second trojan to be discovered and the only member of the Trojan camp named after a Greek figure, as the convention of naming one 'camp' after Greek figures of the Trojan War and the other after Trojan figures had not yet been established.