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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 7 November 1909
- Alternative designations
- 1909 JB
- Observation arc
- 102.48 yr (37432 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9457 AU (440.67 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1375 AU (319.77 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5416 AU (380.22 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.05 yr (1480.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 183.825 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 35.7 / day
- Inclination
- 13.838°
- Longitude of ascending node
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q114646
- Follows
- 694 Ekard
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +40.62
- Orbital period
- +1478.714148630595
- Image
- 695Bella (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
695 Bella is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
Although this asteroid has dynamic properties that make it a candidate for the Maria family, the spectral properties of the object indicate it is most likely an interloper. Instead, it may have been spalled off from 6 Hebe or its parent body. 695 Bella and 6 Hebe orbit on opposite sides of the 3:1 Kirkwood gap, and the two have similar orbital elements.