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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 September 1906
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈbʁaŋɡɛːnə ]
- Named after
- Brangaine , (opera character)
- Alternative designations
- 1906 VB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Brangäne
- Observation arc
- 111.68 yr (40,792 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1564 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0181 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5872 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.16 yr (1,520 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 276.59 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q155838
- Follows
- 605 Juvisia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +35.758
- Orbital period
- +1519.497697110894
Show 4 more facts
Article
606 Brangäne, provisional designation 1906 VB, is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers (22 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 18 September 1906, by astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The unusual K-type asteroid is the namesake of the small Brangäne family and has a rotation period of 12.3 hours. It was named after Brangaine, a character from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner.
Orbit and classification