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
- 8 September 1915
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ t ɒ s ə /
- Named after
- Atossa (550–475 BC), (Persian queen)
- Alternative designations
- A915 RS · 1931 PF, 1934 NB · 1947 PA, 1915 XQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background · Flora
- Observation arc
- 104.41 yr (38,136 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.5717 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7853 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.1785 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.22 yr (1,174 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Atossa
- Followed by
- Q157220
- Follows
- 809 Lundia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +8.104
- Orbital period
- +1175.301199130715
- Image
- 810Atossa (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
Article
810 Atossa (prov. designation: A915 RS or 1915 XQ) is a bright and elongated background asteroid from the region of the Flora family, located in the inner portion of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 September 1915, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southern Germany. The presumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 4.4 hours and measures approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter. It was named after the ancient Persian queen Atossa (550–475 BC).
Orbit and classification