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
- G. N. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Observatory
- Discovery date
- 6 October 1913
- Alternative designations
- 1913 TA
- Observation arc
- 101.12 yr (36933 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7589 AU (562.32 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.5813 AU (386.16 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1701 AU (474.24 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.64 yr (2061.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 90.8697 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 28.632 / day
- Inclination
- 7.3689°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.487°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 770 Bali
- Follows
- 768 Struveana
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +96.72
- Orbital period
- +2060.774441700366
Show 3 more facts
- P6259
Article
769 Tatjana is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. The body was named such after Tatiana Larina, protagonist of Alexander Pushkin's poem "Eugene Onegin". It's possible that the name was suggested by the provisional designation of the asteroid, 1913 TA, but unlike bodies named by Wolf, Knopff and Metcalf in the years 1905–1909, there's no naming pattern to support this.
References