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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 March 1914
- Named after
- Character of Nora Helmer in the play A Doll's House , (By poet Henrik Ibsen )
- Alternative designations
- A914 FB · A911 QG, 1914 UL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 108.44 yr (39,607 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8811 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8046 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3429 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.59 yr (1,310 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 136.94 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157074
- Follows
- Q157066
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +38.719
- Orbital period
- +1308.95243910006
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
783 Nora (prov. designation: A914 FB or 1914 UL) is a dark background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory on 18 March 1914. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a longer-than average rotation period of 55.5 hours and measures approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. It was likely named after Nora Helmer, principal character in the play A Doll's House by Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen.
Orbit and classification