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
- A. Massinger
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 April 1912
- Named after
- "the heavens" , ( Indonesian language )
- Alternative designations
- A912 GH · 1940 WP, 1912 OQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 104.24 yr (38,075 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4090 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5656 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9873 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.16 yr (1,886 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 201.03 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 732 Tjilaki
- Follows
- Q156787
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +34.597
- Orbital period
- +1883.143194767013
- Image
- 731Sorga (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
731 Sorga (prov. designation: A912 GH or 1912 OQ) is a highly elongated background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 15 April 1912, by German astronomer Adam Massinger at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The C-type (CD) and X-type asteroid (Xe) has a rotation period of 8.2 hours. It was named Sorga, meaning "the heavens" in the Indonesian language.
Orbit and classification