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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 3 August 1904
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ʁoːzɐˈmʊndə ]
- Alternative designations
- 1904 ON
- Observation arc
- 111.67 yr (40788 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4178 AU (361.70 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0195 AU (302.11 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2187 AU (331.91 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.30 yr (1207.1 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 85.2863 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 53.664 / day
- Inclination
- 5.5831°
Article
540 Rosamunde is an S-type asteroid belonging to the Flora family in the Main Belt. Its diameter is about 19 km and it has an albedo of 0.243 . Its rotation period is 9.336 hours.
Rosamunde is named for a character in a play of the same title for which Franz Schubert wrote incidental music.