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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery date
- 7 January 1896
- Alternative designations
- 1896 CK
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 117.65 yr (42970 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8841 AU (431.46 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.64290 AU (395.372 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.7635 AU (413.41 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.59 yr (1,678.0 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 1.07289 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 52.344 / day
- Inclination
- 13.767°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 106.47°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 413 Edburga
- Follows
- Q152678
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +96.056
- Orbital period
- +1677.030978840936
Show 4 more facts
Article
412 Elisabetha is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on 7 January 1896 in Heidelberg. It may have been named after his mother, Elise Wolf (née Helwerth). This minor planet is orbiting at a distance of 2.76 AU from the Sun with a period of 4.59 years and an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.044. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 13.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.
This asteroid is rotating with a period of 19.65618±0.00004 h. Shape models and stellar occultations provide an estimated diameter of 97+7 −14 km. Older diameter estimates range from 76.38±2.114 to 111.12±22.22 km.