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
- F. Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 26 August 1911
- Pronunciation
- / v ɪ z ɪ ˈ b eɪ d ə /
- Named after
- Wiesbaden , (German city)
- Alternative designations
- A911 QK · 1911 MJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 108.68 yr (39,695 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.9650 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3124 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1387 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.56 yr (2,031 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 150.82 °
Article
717 Wisibada (prov. designation: A911 QK or 1911 MJ) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 26 August 1911, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. It was named after the discoverer's birthplace, the city of Wiesbaden in Hesse, Germany.
Orbit and classification