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
- 19 March 1930
- Named after
- Hermann Kobold , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1930 FB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Phocaea
- Observation arc
- 87.01 yr (31,782 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7574 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8543 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3059 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.50 yr (1,279 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 15.684 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 53.4 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hermann Kobold
- Followed by
- Q136666
- Follows
- Q136657
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +7.651
- Orbital period
- +1279.916103224988
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1164 Kobolda, provisional designation 1930 FB, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in 1930, the asteroid was later named after German astronomer Hermann Kobold.
Discovery