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
- 26 January 1928
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ s æ l v i ə /
- Named after
- Salvia ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1928 BC · 1948 VO, A910 AA · A916 WF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 107.49 yr (39,261 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7548 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9036 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3292 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.55 yr (1,298 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1083 Salvia (prov. designation: 1928 BC) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 26 January 1928, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The assumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 4.2 hours and measures approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. It was named after the flowering plant Salvia (sage).
Orbit and classification