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
- 8 September 1913
- Alternative designations
- 1913 SO
- Observation arc
- 97.40 yr (35574 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0488 AU (456.09 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6751 AU (400.19 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.8619 AU (428.13 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.842 yr (1,768.4 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 114.79 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 12.852 / day
- Inclination
- 2.1605°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 23.830°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Martin Brendel
- Followed by
- 762 Pulcova
- Follows
- Q156976
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +20.763
- Orbital period
- +1769.158400466365
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Franz Kaiser
- P65
Article
761 Brendelia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer Franz Kaiser on September 8, 1913, and named after Otto Rudolf Martin Brendel. It is orbiting at a distance of 2.8619 AU from the Sun with a period of 4.842 yr and an orbital eccentricity of 0.065297. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.16° to the plane of the ecliptic.
This is a member of the dynamic Koronis family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body. It is an SC-type asteroid that is spinning with a period of 58.00±0.02 h.