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
- Paul Götz
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 26 July 1905
- Pronunciation
- / k ɛ ˈ r ʌ s k i ə / , German: [ çeːˈʁʊskiaː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1905 QS
- Observation arc
Article
568 Cheruskia is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt that was discovered by German astronomer Paul Götz on 26 July 1905 from Heidelberg.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during 2008 gave a light curve with a period of 13.209 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.10 ± 0.01 in magnitude. This is in disagreement with a previous study reported in 2000 that gave a period estimate of 14.654 hours.