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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 12 April 1904
- Pronunciation
- Italian: [ dzerˈliːna ]
- Named after
- Zerlina , Masetto's fiancée, ( Don Giovanni )
- Alternative designations
- 1904 NW · 1955 HA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Pallas
- Observation arc
- 112.56 yr (41,114 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3356 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2379 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7867 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.65 yr (1,699 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 532 Herculina
- Follows
- Q155240
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +17.804
- Orbital period
- +1696.310735226328
- Image
- 531Zerlina (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
531 Zerlina, provisional designation 1904 NW, carbonaceous Palladian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 12 April 1904. It is named for a character in Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni H 57).
Observations using the IRAS satellite have shown it to have an absolute magnitude of 11.8, a diameter of 15.19 kilometers, a rotational period of 16.706 hours, and an albedo of 0.1460.