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
- 14 September 1925
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- 1925 RB · A906 DD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 91.64 yr (33,470 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5133 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6726 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0930 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.44 yr (1,987 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 295.00 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 52.32 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q132861
- Follows
- (1048) Feodosia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +56.296
- Orbital period
- +1984.582945034579
Show 3 more facts
Article
1049 Gotho, provisional designation 1925 RB, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 53 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 September 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. Although the name of the asteroid is a masculine German name, it is not known to refer to a particular individual.
Orbit and classification