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
- E. Skvortsov
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 August 1929
- Named after
- Volga River , (Russian river )
- Alternative designations
- 1929 PF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 87.92 yr (32,114 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1733 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6228 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8981 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.93 yr (1,802 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 258.64 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 59.28 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- small Solar System body
- Named after
- Volga
- Followed by
- Q136499
- Follows
- Q136468
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +52.377
- Orbital period
- +1800.425710535701
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1149 Volga, provisional designation 1929 PF, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 55 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 August 1929, by Soviet astronomer Evgenij Skvorcov (a.k.a. Skvortsov) at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after the Volga River.
Orbit and classification