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
- Discovery date
- 15 November 1904
- Pronunciation
- German: [ jɛsɔndaː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1904 PK
- Observation arc
- 111.42 yr (40695 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3765 AU (505.12 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.9899 AU (297.68 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6832 AU (401.40 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.40 yr (1605.3 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 129.346 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 27.3 / day
- Inclination
- 3.9605°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 550 Senta
- Follows
- Q155420
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +15.53
- Orbital period
- +1608.560488365425
Show 4 more facts
Article
549 Jessonda is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. According to the Catalogue of Minor Planet Names and Discovery Circumstances, it is "named presumably after the character in the opera of the same name by the German composer, conductor and violinist Ludwig Spohr (1784–1859), one of the leading composers in the early romantic period.' (Around 1904 Max Wolf named numerous asteroids he had discovered after female characters in opera.)
References