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
- 24 September 1916
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- A916 SL · 1916 AH, 2019 FC 5
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 103.28 yr (37,724 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2777 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5189 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8983 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.93 yr (1,802 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 15.248 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 59.28 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157356
- Follows
- 837 Schwarzschilda
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +58.095
- Orbital period
- +1802.997029517554
Show 4 more facts
Article
838 Seraphina (prov. designation: A916 SL or 1916 AH) is a dark and large background asteroid, approximately 58 kilometers (36 miles) in diameter, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 24 September 1916. The primitive P-type asteroid has a rotation period of 15.7 hours and is rather spherical in shape. Any reference to the origin of the asteroid's name is unknown.
Orbit and classification