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
- V. Albitzkij
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 7 September 1924
- Pronunciation
- / m oʊ t ˈ s ɑːr t i ə / , / m oʊ ˈ z ɑːr t i ə /
- Named after
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , (Austrian composer)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 SS · 1971 DD 2 , 1999 DK 7
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 92.74 yr (33,873 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8959 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.6899 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2929 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.47 yr (1,268 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Followed by
- Q121495
- Follows
- Q121476
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +7.919
- Orbital period
- +1268.233210078221
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1034 Mozartia, provisional designation 1924 SS, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 September 1924, by Soviet Vladimir Albitsky at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Orbit and classification