533 Sara

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

Raymond Smith Dugan

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

19 April 1904

Alternative designations

1904 NZ

Observation arc

114.43 yr (41794 d)

Aphelion

3.1166 AU (466.24 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8421 AU (425.17 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.9794 AU (445.71 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.14 yr (1878.4 d )

Mean anomaly

290.755 °

Mean motion

0° 11 29.94 / day

Inclination

6.5586°

Longitude of ascending node

180.352°

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

534 Nassovia

Follows

532 Herculina

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

+30.819

Orbital period

+1879.398584585506