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
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 15 August 1909
- Alternative designations
- 1909 HF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Gersuind
- Observation arc
- 106.67 yr (38960 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2844 AU (491.34 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8987 AU (284.04 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5915 AU (387.68 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.17 yr (1523.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 236.17 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 10.5 / day
- Inclination
- 15.672°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q156499
- Follows
- 685 Hermia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +55.258
- Orbital period
- +1522.260601599296
Show 4 more facts
Article
686 Gersuind is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on 15 August 1909 from Heidelberg. It was named after a character in Gerhart Hauptmann's play Gersuind.
This object is the namesake of a family of 40–207 asteroids that share similar spectral properties and orbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively high orbital inclination.