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
- A. Bohrmann
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 February 1938
- Named after
- Johann Titius (astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 DX 1 · 1966 TF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 79.27 yr (28,955 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.5750 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2643 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4196 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.76 yr (1,375 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 335.11 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 15 42.84 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Johann Daniel Titius
- Followed by
- Q734327
- Follows
- 1997 Leverrier
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +14.242
- Orbital period
- +1374.27945687451
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1998 Titius, provisional designation 1938 DX1, is a metallic–carbonaceous asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 24 February 1938, by German astronomer Alfred Bohrmann at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany. On the same night, the body was also observed at the Finnish Turku Observatory. It was later named after astronomer Johann Daniel Titius.