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. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 June 1914
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l eɪ n ə /
- Named after
- Elena Neujmina, (discoverer's family)
- Alternative designations
- 1914 UU · 1970 CE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 81.69 yr (29,837 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0817 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2907 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6862 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.40 yr (1,608 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 110.02 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 790 Pretoria
- Follows
- 788 Hohensteina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +22.483
- Orbital period
- +1607.430232748529
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
789 Lena, provisional designation 1914 UU, is a metallic asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 June 1914, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and named after the discoverer's mother.
Orbit and classification