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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 April 1913
- Named after
- Faina Neujmina , (Wife of the discoverer)
- Alternative designations
- A913 HE · 1913 RK
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Faïna · background
- Observation arc
- 106.97 yr (39,072 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9387 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1657 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5522 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.08 yr (1,489 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 293.41 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q156917
- Follows
- Q156906
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +113.699
- Orbital period
- +1489.102173550589
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
751 Faïna (prov. designation: A913 HE or 1913 RK) is a very large background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 110 kilometers (68 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 28 April 1913, by Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The elongated C-type asteroid (Ch) has a rotation period of 23.7 hours. It was named after Faina Mikhajlovna Neujmina, colleague and first wife of the discoverer.
Orbit and classification