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 , L. Carnera
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 21 May 1901
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h æ n s ə /
- Named after
- Hanseatic League , (medieval trade association)
- Alternative designations
- 1901 GL · A905 JA, A911 UJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Hansa
- Observation arc
- 116.44 yr (42,528 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7656 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5213 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6435 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.30 yr (1,570 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hanseatic League
- Followed by
- Q154710
- Follows
- Q154646
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +56.22
- Orbital period
- +1570.35568326258
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
480 Hansa, provisional designation 1901 GL, is a stony asteroid and the namesake of the Hansa family located in the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 56 kilometers (35 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 21 May 1901, by astronomers Max Wolf and Luigi Carnera at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 16.19 hours and possibly an elongated shape. It was named after the Hanseatic League, a medieval European trade association.
Orbit and classification