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
- 6 August 1923
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b oʊ d i ə /
- Named after
- Johann Elert Bode , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A923 PC · 1967 PA, 1923 NU
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 96.34 yr (35,187 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7826 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4547 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1187 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.51 yr (2,012 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Johann Elert Bode
- Followed by
- Q459031
- Follows
- Q158519
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +31.761
- Orbital period
- +2007.765439396072
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
998 Bodea (prov. designation: A923 PC or 1923 NU) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 6 August 1923, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany. The presumed C-type asteroid with an irregular shape has a rotation period of 8.6 hours. It was named after German astronomer Johann Elert Bode (1747–1826).
Orbit and classification