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
- 21 September 1900
- Pronunciation
- / h ər ˈ s ɪ n i ə /
- Named after
- Hercynian Forest , (ancient European forest)
- Alternative designations
- 1900 FK · 1947 XB, 2016 FW 5 · A902 CA, A915 PD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 116.79 yr (42,656 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7176 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2784 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9980 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.19 yr (1,896 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hercynian Forest
- Followed by
- Q154525
- Follows
- Q125890
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +36.698
- Orbital period
- +1891.201605129762
Show 4 more facts
Article
458 Hercynia, provisional designation 1900 FK, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 September 1900, by astronomers Max Wolf and Arnold Schwassmann at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named for the ancient Hercynian Forest, known to the Romans as "Hercynia silva".
Orbit and classification