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
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 October 1900
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ s k eɪ i ə /
- Named after
- Scania (Skåne), (Province of Sweden)
- Alternative designations
- A900 UF · 1900 FN
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background · slow
- Observation arc
- 119.27 yr (43,564 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0059 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4304 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7182 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.48 yr (1,637 d)
- Mean anomaly
Article
460 Scania (/ˈskeɪiə/; prov. designation: A900 UF or 1900 FN) is a background asteroid and a slow rotator from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 22 October 1900. The uncommon K-type asteroid has an exceptionally long rotation period of 164.1 hours and measures approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) in diameter. It was named after the Swedish region of Scania, where a meeting was held by the Astronomische Gesellschaft in 1904.
Orbit and classification