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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 April 1913
- Pronunciation
- / s uː l ə ˈ m aɪ t ɪ s /
- Named after
- Shulamite , (Hebrew Bible)
- Alternative designations
- 1913 RL · 1936 FH 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Sulamitis
- Observation arc
- 101.01 yr (36,894 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6457 AU (395.79 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2795 AU (341.01 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.4626 AU (368.40 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.87 yr (1,412 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Queen of Sheba
- Followed by
- 753 Tiflis
- Follows
- 751 Faïna
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +60.171
- Orbital period
- +1411.957203548961
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
752 Sulamitis /suːləˈmaɪtɪs/ is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It is the parent body of the Sulamitis family (408), a small family of 300 known carbonaceous asteroids. This asteroid is orbiting 2.46 AU from the Sun with a period of 3.87 years and an eccentricity of 0.0743. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.96° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Sulamitis was discovered on 30 April 1913 by Georgian–Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and given the provisional designation 1913 RL. It was named after the Shulamite, a beautiful woman mentioned in the book Solomon's Song of Songs of the Old Testament. The figure is possibly the Queen of Sheba in the Hebrew Bible.