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
- 18 March 1923
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A923 FB · 1923 NL, 1960 KC · 1967 CM, 1967 EK 1 · 1923 NL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 96.15 yr (35,119 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8235 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2349 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5292 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.02 yr (1,469 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 156.20 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 995 Sternberga
- Follows
- 993 Moultona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +20.786
- Orbital period
- +1469.393520208625
- Image
- 994Otthild (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
994 Otthild (prov. designation: A923 FB or 1923 NL) is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 18 March 1923, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.95 hours and is rather regular in shape. It was named after a common German female name, unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, and taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.
Orbit and classification