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
- 26 August 1913
- Pronunciation
- / v aɪ ˈ n ɪ f ə r ə /
- Named after
- Vitis vinifera , (common grape vine)
- Alternative designations
- A913 QC · 1913 SJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 106.44 yr (38,879 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1565 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0806 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6185 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.24 yr (1,548 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Vitis vinifera
- Followed by
- Q156976
- Follows
- 758 Mancunia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +52.926
- Orbital period
- +1546.707395129555
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Franz Kaiser
- P65
Article
759 Vinifera (prov. designation: A913 QC or 1913 SJ) is a large background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 26 August 1913, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The dark X-type asteroid has a rotation period of 14.2 hours and a heavily elongated shape. It was named after the plant species vitis vinifera, also known as the common grape vine.
Orbit and classification