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
- 22 September 1928
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k l ɛ m ə t ɪ s /
- Named after
- κληματίς clēmatis , ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1928 SJ · 1928 WB, 1963 TG 1 · 1969 TG 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Alauda
- Adjectives
- Clematidian
- Observation arc
- 89.17 yr (32,571 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4833 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.9770 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2302 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
Article
1101 Clematis /ˈklɛmətɪs/ is an Alauda asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 1928, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany, and assigned the provisional designation 1928 SJ. It was named for the flowering plant Clematis. The presumably carbonaceous asteroid has a relatively long rotation period of 34.3 hours.
Orbit and classification