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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Observatory
- Discovery date
- 8 February 1916
- Alternative designations
- 1916 YV
- Observation arc
- 100.18 yr (36592 d)
- Aphelion
Article
816 Juliana is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It measures 59.85k in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 1916 by Max Wolf at the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany.
Wolf probably chose the name to honour Princess Juliana (later Queen Juliana of the Netherlands); he had previously named 392 Wilhelmina after her mother.