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
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 4 January 1908
- Alternative designations
- 1908 BM
- Observation arc
- 108.29 yr (39553 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8288 AU (423.18 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.7653 AU (264.09 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.2970 AU (343.63 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1,271.6 d (3.48 yr)
- Mean anomaly
- 51.9052 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 59.196 / day
- Inclination
- 18.125°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 278.460°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 655 Briseïs
- Follows
- Q112396
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +160.736
- Orbital period
- +1271.349198138167
Show 4 more facts
Article
654 Zelinda is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered on 4 January 1908 by German astronomer August Kopff. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.297 AU with an orbital eccentricity of 0.23 and a period of 3.48 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 18.1° to the plane of the ecliptic. On favorable oppositions, it can be as bright as magnitude 10.0, as observed on January 30, 2016.
In 1988, this object was detected with radar from the Arecibo Observatory at a distance of 0.89 AU. The measured radar cross-section was 2,200 km. Measurements made using the adaptive optics system at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a diameter estimate of 131 km. This is 13% smaller than the diameter estimated from the IRAS observatory measurements. It is roughly triangular in shape, and spins with a synodic rotation period of 31.735 h.