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
- 18 January 1901
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈliːnaː ]
- Named after
- (household employee)
- Alternative designations
- 1901 FZ · A915 PA, A918 EB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Themis
- Observation arc
- 115.81 yr (42,300 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7509 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5136 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1323 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.54 yr (2,025 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 64.042 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q154574
- Follows
- 467 Laura
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +60.238
- Orbital period
- +2028.769495141953
Show 4 more facts
Article
468 Lina, provisional designation 1901 FZ, is a dark Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 18 January 1901, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The carbonaceous asteroid was named for the housemaid of the discoverer's family.
Classification and orbit