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 , A. Schwassmann
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 June 1900
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ b n ə b ə /
- Named after
- Abnoba , ( Celtic mythology )
- Alternative designations
- 1900 FH · 1952 YF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 117.07 yr (42,761 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2873 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2894 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7884 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.66 yr (1,701 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
456 Abnoba, provisional designation 1900 FH, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 June 1900, by astronomers Max Wolf and Arnold Schwassmann at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the Celtic deity Abnoba.
Orbit and classification