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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1902
- Pronunciation
- / p ɛ ˈ t r aɪ n ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1902 HT
- Observation arc
- 111.53 yr (40737 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2971 AU (493.24 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7064 AU (404.87 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0017 AU (449.05 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.20 yr (1899.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 287.189 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 22.272 / day
- Inclination
- 14.474°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 483 Seppina
- Follows
- Q154710
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +45.751
- Orbital period
- +1902.727117606765
Show 4 more facts
Article
482 Petrina is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
Attempts to produce a light curve for this object have yielded differing synodic rotation periods, perhaps in part because the period is close to half an Earth day. Observations suggest that the pole of rotation is near the orbital plane, yielding only small light variations during certain parts of each orbit. Attempts to observe the asteroid photometrically during an optimal viewing period of the object's orbit gave a rotation period of 11.7922 ± 0.0001 h with an amplitude variation of 0.53 ± 0.05 in magnitude.