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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Observatory
- Discovery date
- 18 January 1903
- Alternative designations
- 1903 LB; 1943 FC;, 1949 FW; 1951 RB 2 ;, 1951 SE; 1955 FB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 113.22 yr (41352 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.6114 AU (540.26 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7270 AU (407.95 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1692 AU (474.11 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.64 yr (2060.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 201.00 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 28.92 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 502 Sigune
- Follows
- Q154937
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +74.457
- Mass
- +490
- Orbital period
- +2054.998737783967
Show 3 more facts
Article
501 Urhixidur is a relatively large (ranked 372nd by IRAS) main belt asteroid. It was discovered on 18 January 1903, by astronomer Max Wolf (1863–1932), at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. Like 500 Selinur and 502 Sigune, it is named after a character in Friedrich Theodor Vischer's then-bestseller satirical novel Auch Einer.
Its rotational period was reported as 15 hours in 1992, but corrected to 13.174 hours in 2013.