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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 April 1916
- Named after
- Oskar Backlund , (Swedish-Russian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A916 GQ · 1955 PB, 1955 QO 1 · 1958 LA, 1959 SQ · 1962 MA, A908 CB · 1916 Σ30
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 88.67 yr (32,385 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7255 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1440 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4348 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.80 yr (1,388 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 137.72 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Oskar Backlund
- Followed by
- 857 Glasenappia
- Follows
- Q157456
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +45.449
- Orbital period
- +1389.084452502799
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
856 Backlunda (prov. designation: A916 GQ or 1916 Σ30) is a dark background asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 April 1916, by Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 12.1 hours and measures approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) in diameter. It was named after Swedish-Russian astronomer Oskar Backlund (1846–1916).
Orbit and classification