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
- J. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Obs.
- Discovery date
- 26 September 1914
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- A914 SF · 1940 GY, 1946 UR · 1951 UR, 1958 JC · 1914 VE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 102.89 yr (37,580 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0304 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4674 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7489 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.56 yr (1,665 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 206.63 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157132
- Follows
- Q157125
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +85.263
- Orbital period
- +1667.454283966035
Show 4 more facts
- P720
Article
795 Fini (prov. designation: A914 SF or 1914 VE) is a dark and large background asteroid, approximately 76 kilometers (47 miles) in diameter, located in the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory on 26 September 1914. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a poorly determined rotation period of 9.3 hours and seems rather spherical in shape. Any reference of the asteroid's name to a person is unknown.
Orbit and classification