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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 13 September 1915
- Named after
- Valkyrie (mythology) and Die Walküre (opera)
- Alternative designations
- A915 RV · 1909 GC, A909 GC · 1915 Σ7, 1915 S7
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 98.94 yr (36,137 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8854 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0877 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4866 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.92 yr (1,432 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 222.78 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Die Walküre
- Followed by
- 878 Mildred
- Follows
- Q157568
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +38.41
- Orbital period
- +1432.438174432455
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
877 Walküre (prov. designation: A915 RV or 1915 Σ7) is a dark background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 September 1915, by Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The carbonaceous F/C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 17.4 hours and is likely elongated in shape. It was named after the female spirit Valkyrie from Norse mythology, best known from Wagner's opera Die Walküre.
Orbit and classification