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
- 20 November 1925
- Pronunciation
- / f ɔːr ˈ s ɪ t i ə /
- Named after
- Forsythia ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1925 WD · 1962 DD, A907 EA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 110.32 yr (40,295 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3198 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5284 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9241 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.00 yr (1,826 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1054 Forsytia /fɔːrˈsɪtiə/ is a dark background asteroid, approximately 46 kilometers in diameter, from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 20 November 1925, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany and assigned provisional designation 1925 WD. It is named after the flowering plant forsythia, and marks the beginning of a sequence of 28 thematically named asteroids by the discoverer.
Orbit and classification