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
- 1 March 1913
- Pronunciation
- / m ɒ ˈ r ɪ ʃ ( i ) ə /
- Named after
- Saint Maurice , ( Christian martyr )
- Alternative designations
- A913 EH · 1972 BM, 1913 QX
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 107.16 yr (39,139 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3943 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.1332 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2638 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.90 yr (2,154 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 746 Marlu
- Follows
- 744 Aguntina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +24.711
- Orbital period
- +2149.061413476346
Show 3 more facts
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
745 Mauritia (prov. designation: A913 EH or 1913 QX) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 1913, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The presumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.9 hours. It was named after Saint Maurice, patron of the Saint Mauritius church in the city of Wiesbaden, where the discoverer was born.
Orbit and classification