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
- F. Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 March 1913
- Named after
- Marie-Louise Kaiser, (Discoverer's daughter)
- Alternative designations
- A913 EJ · 1926 WA, 1975 XN · 1913 QY
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 104.37 yr (38,122 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8461 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3728 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1094 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.48 yr (2,003 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 60.352 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 747 Winchester
- Follows
- Q156881
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +74.274
- Orbital period
- +2004.242715097008
Show 4 more facts
Article
746 Marlu (prov. designation: A913 EJ or 1913 QY) is a dark and large background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 72 kilometers (45 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 1913, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The primitive P-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.8 hours. It was named after the discoverer's daughter, Marie-Louise Kaiser.
Orbit and classification