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. N. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeis
- Discovery date
- 30 April 1913
- Pronunciation
- / t ɪ f ˈ l iː s /
- Alternative designations
- 1913 RM
- Observation arc
- 108.44 yr (39,609 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8436 AU (425.40 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8143 AU (271.42 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.3289 AU (348.40 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.55 yr (1,298.2 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 346.851 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 38.316 / day
- Inclination
- 10.089°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 754 Malabar
- Follows
- Q156917
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +20.922
- Orbital period
- +1300.254536727588
- Image
- 753Tiflis (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
753 Tiflis is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered 30 April 1913 by the Georgian–Russian astronomer Grigory N. Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory and was named after Georgia's capital city Tiflis (now called Tbilisi). The object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.33 AU with a period of 3.55 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.22. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 10.1° to the plane of the ecliptic. In 1991, Ruth F. Wolfe included it as a member of the proposed Tiflis asteroid family.
This is classed as an S-type asteroid in the Tholen taxonomy. It spans a girth of approximately 23.6 km and rotates on its axis every 9.85 hours.