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
- J. Helffrich
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 March 1910
- Named after
- Ernst Wolf, (son of Max Wolf )
- Alternative designations
- A910 ED · A908 WB, 1910 JX
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 111.16 yr (40,601 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1847 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5490 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8669 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.85 yr (1,773 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 269.92 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 10.8 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 699 Hela
- Follows
- Q156583
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +27.037
- Orbital period
- +1774.298972619371
Show 3 more facts
Article
698 Ernestina (prov. designation: A910 ED or 1910 JX) is a background asteroid, approximately 27 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 5 March 1910, by German astronomer Joseph Helffrich at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The presumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.0 hours. It was named after Ernst Wolf, son of German astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets, Max Wolf.
Orbit and classification