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
- Discovery date
- 19 September 1905
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ r iː k ə / , German: [ ˈʁeːçaː ]
- Alternative designations
- 1905 RC
- Observation arc
- 110.43 yr (40335 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3562 AU (502.08 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6689 AU (399.26 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0125 AU (450.66 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.23 yr (1909.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 55.621 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 18.6 / day
- Inclination
- 9.8334°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q155634
- Follows
- 572 Rebekka
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +47.582
- Orbital period
- +1912.334976515904
- Image
- 573Recha (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
Article
573 Recha is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid, discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on September 19, 1905, was named after a character in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's play Nathan the Wise and may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation 1905 RC.
Photometric observations at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado from 2001 to 2006 were used to build a light curve for this object. The asteroid displayed a rotation period of 7.15 ± 0.01 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.02 in magnitude.