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
- 20 April 1914
- Pronunciation
- / m ɒ s k ˈ v ɑː / mosk- VAH
- Alternative designations
- 1914 UQ
- Observation arc
- 100.47 yr (36695 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8690 AU (429.20 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2090 AU (330.46 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5390 AU (379.83 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.05 yr (1477.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 18.5642 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 37.032 / day
- Inclination
- 14.852°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 788 Hohensteina
- Follows
- Q157083
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +27.927
- Orbital period
- +1478.877507243125
- Image
- 787Moskva (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
Article
787 Moskva is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It is a dynamic member of the Maria asteroid family orbiting near the 3:1 Kirkwood gap. This is an S-type (stony) asteroid spanning 27 km. The surface mineralogy is consistent with mesosiderite silicates.
Object 1914 UQ, discovered 20 April 1914 by Grigory Neujmin, was named 787 Moskva, after the capital of Russia, Moscow (and retains that name to this day). Object 1934 FD discovered on 19 March 1934 by C. Jackson was given the sequence number 1317. In 1938, G. N. Neujmin found that asteroid 1317 and 787 Moskva were, in fact, the same object. Sequence number 1317 was later reused for the object 1935 RC discovered on 1 September 1935 by Karl Reinmuth; that object is now known as 1317 Silvretta.