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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 7 September 1921
- Pronunciation
- / k ə ˈ m iː l i ə /
- Named after
- Camellia , (genus of flowers)
- Alternative designations
- A921 RF · 1932 AG, 1958 BM · 1921 JX
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background · slow
- Observation arc
- 97.94 yr (35,773 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1595 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6884 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9240 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.00 yr (1,826 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 958 Asplinda
- Follows
- Q158265
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +91.548
- Orbital period
- +1822.732409731884
Show 3 more facts
Article
957 Camelia /kəˈmiːliə/ is a large, carbonaceous background asteroid and slow rotator, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It is located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt and was discovered on 7 September 1921, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany and given the provisional designations A921 RF and 1921 JX. The C-type asteroid (Cb) has a long rotation period of at least 150 hours. It was named after the genus of flowering plants, Camellia.
Orbit and classification