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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 October 1931
- Named after
- Anna Risi , (model of painter) , Anselm Feuerbach
- Alternative designations
- 1931 TA · 1926 RH, 1978 AD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 90.24 yr (32,960 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.6055 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1795 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8925 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.92 yr (1,797 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 137.21 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1204 Renzia
- Follows
- Q136960
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +35.18
- Orbital period
- +1788.709729772185
Show 3 more facts
Article
1203 Nanna (provisional designation 1931 TA) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 35 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 October 1931, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany, and named after Anna Risi, a model and mistress of painter Anselm Feuerbach.
Orbit