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
- 15 November 1931
- Named after
- Hans Osten, ( amateur astronomer )
- Alternative designations
- 1931 VT · 1959 EF 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Eos
- Observation arc
- 84.41 yr (30,829 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2804 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7656 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0230 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.26 yr (1,920 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 88.892 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 15 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1208 Troilus
- Follows
- Q136984
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +21.925
- Orbital period
- +1916.635681642827
- Image
- 1207Ostenia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
Article
1207 Ostenia (provisional designation 1931 VT) is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 November 1931, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany, and named for amateur astronomer Hans Osten.
Classification and orbit