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
- 26 September 1913
- Pronunciation
- / m ə ˈ t aɪ ə k ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1913 SV
- Observation arc
- 102.56 yr (37459 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2685 AU (488.96 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.8258 AU (273.14 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5472 AU (381.06 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.07 yr (1484.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 87.9802 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 32.82 / day
- Inclination
- 5.5470°
Article
765 Mattiaca is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt. Photometric observations made in 2011–2012 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico produced an irregular light curve and a period of 3.4640 ± 0.0001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.09 ± 0.01 in magnitude. Mattiacum was the Latin name for the city of Wiesbaden, Germany, birthplace of the discoverer.
References