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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 18 April 1915
- Named after
- Vitold Cerasky (1849–1925), (Belarusian–Soviet astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A915 HF · 1974 QB 3 , A909 BK · A917 QA, 1915 WY
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) Eos
- Observation arc
- 111.04 yr (40,559 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2127 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8199 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0163 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.24 yr (1,913 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 91.475 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Vitold Cerasky
- Followed by
- 808 Merxia
- Follows
- 806 Gyldénia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +21.241
- Orbital period
- +1916.506658888073
- Image
- 807Ceraskia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
Article
807 Ceraskia (prov. designation: A915 HF or 1915 WY) is an elongated Eos asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 18 April 1915, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.4 hours and measures approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was named after Belarusian–Soviet astronomer Vitold Cerasky (1849–1925).
Orbit and classification