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
- Franz Kaiser
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 18 October 1911
- Alternative designations
- 1911 MZ
- Observation arc
- 104.47 years (38,159 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.9621 AU (592.72 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 3.1388 AU (469.56 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.5504 AU (531.13 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 6.69 yr (2,443.6 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 218.961 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 8 50.388 / day
- Inclination
- 8.3229°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.411°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 722 Frieda
- Follows
- 720 Bohlinia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +86.309
- Orbital period
- +2440.37640765969
Show 4 more facts
Article
721 Tabora is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. Tabora was named at a conference in Hamburg, Germany in 1913. The name was chosen because the conference was held aboard the passenger cargo liner Tabora of the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie. The asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 3.55 AU from the Sun with a period of 6.69 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.12. The orbital plane for is inclined at an angle of 8.3° to the plane of the ecliptic It is a member of the Cybele group in the outer belt.
Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 2005 were used to produce a light curve showing a rotation period of 7.982±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.28 in magnitude. This is a low albedo D-type asteroid showing the characteristic featureless, reddish spectrum of that taxonomic class. It spans a girth of approximately 76 km.