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
- 11 August 1928
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v ɪ s i ə , - ʃ i ə /
- Named after
- Vicia ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1928 PC · 1941 SO 2 , 1958 PF · 1978 BG, A907 VF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 109.40 yr (39,958 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4186 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8697 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6441 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.30 yr (1,570 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1097 Vicia, provisional designation 1928 PC, is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in 1928, the asteroid was later named after the flowering plant Vicia, commonly known as vetches.
Discovery