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
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
- Discovery date
- 8 September 1871
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ s ɪr oʊ n ə /
- Named after
- Đīrona
- Alternative designations
- A871 RA; 1954 UC 3 ;, 1998 EK 13 ; 1998 ES 21
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 143.31 yr (52345 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1616 AU (472.97 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.37322 AU (355.029 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.76741 AU (413.999 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.60 yr (1681.5 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.81 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Article
116 Sirona is a somewhat large and bright-colored main-belt asteroid that was discovered by the German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on September 8, 1871, and named after Sirona, the Celtic goddess of healing.
This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.60 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.14. The orbital plane is inclined by 3.56° to the plane of the ecliptic. The cross-section diameter of this object is ~72 km. Photometric observations of this asteroid gave a light curve with a period of 12.028 hours and a brightness variation of 0.42 in magnitude. It has the spectrum of an S-type asteroid, suggesting a siliceous composition.