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
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 June 1909
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h eɪ ɡ ɑːr /
- Named after
- Hagar (Biblical woman)
- Alternative designations
- A909 MA · 1943 GK, 1953 VU 3 · 1975 VO 5 , 1909 HA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 110.96 yr (40,529 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1105 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1966 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6536 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.32 yr (1,579 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 225.55 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 683 Lanzia
- Follows
- 681 Gorgo
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Orbital period
- +1577.591651548653
Show 3 more facts
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
682 Hagar (prov. designation: A909 MA or 1909 HA) is an Eunomia asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 17 June 1909, by German astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The presumed S-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 4.9 hours and measures approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. Possibly inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation "1909 HA", it was named for the biblical woman Hagar.
Orbit and classification