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
- Adam Massinger
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 30 March 1914
- Alternative designations
- 1914 UN
- Observation arc
- 95.43 yr (34854 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1099 AU (465.23 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0273 AU (303.28 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5686 AU (384.26 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.12 yr (1503.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 268.20 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 21.912 / day
- Inclination
- 12.769°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 71.882°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157083
- Follows
- Q157074
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +49.46
- Orbital period
- +1505.9060095258
Show 4 more facts
Article
785 Zwetana is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by Adam Massinger, an assistant at the Heidelberg Observatory, on March 30, 1914. It was named for the daughter of Kiril Popoff, a Bulgarian astronomer. This asteroid is orbiting 2.57 AU from the Sun with an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.21 and a period of 4.12 yr. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 12.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.
This asteroid spans a girth of ~48.5 km and it has a Tholen taxonomic class of M. Radar observations indicate that it is almost certainly metallic. The near infrared spectra suggests the presence of spinel on the surface, which is indicative of calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions. The best meteorite analog to the near infrared spectrum of this object is the enstatite chondrite, Abee.