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
- 28 August 1913
- Named after
- Adam Massinger (1888–1914) , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A913 QD · 1941 SL 2 , 1913 SL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) background
- Observation arc
- 106.27 yr (38,816 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.8806 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4122 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1464 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.58 yr (2,039 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 176.77 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Adam Massinger
- Followed by
- Q156983
- Follows
- 759 Vinifera
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +71.29
- Orbital period
- +2039.455234667488
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Franz Kaiser
- P65
Article
760 Massinga (prov. designation: A913 QD or 1913 SL) is a large background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg Observatory on 28 August 1913. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 10.7 hours and is somewhat elongated in shape. It was named in memory of Adam Massinger (1888–1914), a German astronomer at Heidelberg who was killed in World War I.
Orbit and classification