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
- 10 October 1925
- Pronunciation
- / p iː ˈ oʊ n i ə /
- Named after
- peony (flowering plant)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 TB · 1925 XB, 1936 SM · 1942 XD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis · background
- Observation arc
- 91.72 yr (33,502 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7986 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4505 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1245 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.52 yr (2,017 d)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1061 Paeonia, provisional designation 1925 TB, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 19 km (12 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 10 October 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany. The C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 8 hours and is likely very elongated. It was named after the flowering plant Paeonia, commonly known as peony.
Orbit and classification