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
- Annibale de Gasparis
- Discovery date
- April 26, 1865
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b iː ə t r ɪ k s / BEE -ə-triks
- Named after
- Beatrice Portinari
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Beatrician ( / ˌ b iː ə ˈ t r ɪ ʃ ə n / BEE -ə- TRISH -ən )
- Aphelion
- 393.528 million km (2.631 AU)
- Perihelion
- 334.023 million km (2.233 AU)
- Semi major axis
- 363.776 million km (2.432 AU )
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1385.035 d (3.79 a )
- Average orbital speed
- 19.07 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 141.862°
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 84 Klio
- Follows
- 82 Alkmene
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +110.503
- Mass
- +5600000000000000000
- Orbital period
- +1384.987736981946
Show 5 more facts
Article
83 Beatrix is a fairly large asteroid orbiting in the inner part of the main asteroid belt. It was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on April 26, 1865. It was his last asteroid discovery. A diameter of at least 68 kilometres (42 mi) was determined from the Beatrician stellar occultation observed on June 15, 1983. It is named for Beatrice Portinari, beloved of Dante Alighieri and immortalized by him in La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy.
On February 16, 2001, an occultation of a magnitude +9.09 star by this asteroid was observed from three locations. The resulting chords matched an elliptical profile with a mean radius of 35.9 km. The observers noted some dimming and flickering at the beginning of the event, which may indicate the star was binary or the asteroid has an irregular shape. Previous occultations had been observed in 1983 and 1990, which produced a much larger size estimate of 81.4 km.