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
- 21 March 1915
- Named after
- Friedrich Pick , (Czech medical doctor)
- Alternative designations
- A915 FL · 1952 YH, 1984 EC 2 · A899 NE, A915 FD · 1915 WS
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 104.50 yr (38,169 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4133 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9929 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2031 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.73 yr (2,094 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 338.93 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 804 Hispania
- Follows
- 802 Epyaxa
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +46.5
- Orbital period
- +2090.573202928585
- Image
- 803Picka (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
Article
803 Picka (prov. designation: A915 FL or 1915 WS) is a large and dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 21 March 1915, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory. The carbonaceous D-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.1 hours and measures approximately 57 kilometers (35 miles) in diameter. It was named after Czech medical doctor Friedrich Pick (1867–1921).
Orbit and classification