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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 20 May 1890
- Pronunciation
- / b r ə ˈ z ɪ l i ə /
- Named after
- Brazil
- Alternative designations
- A890 KA, 1909 HB
- Minor planet category
Article
293 Brasilia is a large Main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 20 May 1890 in Nice. It is the namesake of the Brasilia family, a smaller asteroid family of X-type asteroids in the outer main-belt. However, Brasilia is a suspected interloper in its own family.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Leura Observatory in Leura, Australia during 2006 gave a light curve with a period of 8.173 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.03 in magnitude.