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
- 28 January 1930
- Named after
- A girl's name picked from a, popular German calendar
- Alternative designations
- 1930 BJ · 1959 CJ, 1967 EV
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda
- Observation arc
- 87.27 yr (31,875 days)
- Aphelion
- 4.1018 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.3959 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.7489 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 7.26 yr (2,651 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 131.28 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q136442
- Follows
- 1143 Odysseus
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +56.337
- Orbital period
- +2656.643108199728
Show 4 more facts
Article
1144 Oda, provisional designation 1930 BJ, is a dark Hildian asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 57 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 January 1930, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The asteroid's name is a German female name, not related to the discoverer's contemporaries.
Orbit and classification