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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 January 1927
- Named after
- Max Planck , (German physicist)
- Alternative designations
- 1927 BC · 1952 QY, 1975 VG 8
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 90.75 yr (33,147 d )
- Aphelion
- 3.4721 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7809 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1265 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.53 yr (2,019 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 76.394 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Max Planck
- Followed by
- Q132917
- Follows
- Q132909
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +35.657
- Orbital period
- +2018.990117451515
- Image
- 001069-asteroid shape model (1069) Planckia.png
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
Article
1069 Planckia, provisional designation 1927 BC, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 39 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 28 January 1927, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The asteroid was named after German physicist Max Planck.
Orbit and classification