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
- 18 May 1911
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ʌ l j ʊ l ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1911 LW
- Observation arc
- 104.92 yr (38323 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6801 AU (400.94 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.3892 AU (357.42 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5347 AU (379.19 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.04 yr (1474.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 128.475 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 39.264 / day
- Inclination
- 14.271°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 715 Transvaalia
- Follows
- 713 Luscinia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +41.343
- Orbital period
- +1474.411124755311
- Image
- 714Ulula (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
714 Ulula is a main belt asteroid. It is orbiting the Sun near the 3:1 Kirkwood Gap with a period of 4.04 years and an eccentricity of 0.057. It was discovered by German astronomer J. Helffrich on 18 May 1911 from the Heidelberg Observatory and was named after an order of owls. The asteroid has a mean radius of 20 km and is spinning with a rotation period of seven hours. Its pole of rotation lies just 4–14° away from the plane of the ecliptic. The surface spectrum shows a pyroxene chemistry and is consistent with mesosiderites/HED meteorites.
References