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
- 21 September 1909
- Alternative designations
- 1909 HN , 1949 QB , 1949 SW1 , 1952 DR3
- Observation arc
- 38866 days (106.41 yr)
- Aphelion
- 3.0369 AU (454.31 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.8506 AU (426.44 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.9438 AU (440.39 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.05 yr (1844.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 101.77 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 42.504 / day
- Inclination
- 14.195°
- Longitude of ascending node
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 694 Ekard
- Follows
- 692 Hippodamia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +82.114
- Orbital period
- +1844.206191167999
Show 4 more facts
Article
693 Zerbinetta is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered on 21 September 1909 by August Kopff in Heidelberg and named after a character in Richard Strauss' opera Ariadne auf Naxos.
Between 2003 and 2022, 693 Zerbinetta was observed to occult seventeen stars.