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
- H. Thiele
- Discovery site
- Bergedorf Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 November 1914
- Pronunciation
- / m ɒ n ˈ t æ n ə /
- Named after
- Bergedorf Observatory , Latin for "mountain village"
- Alternative designations
- 1914 VR · 1953 JG, 1957 MG · A898 WA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 101.83 yr (37,194 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6904 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3793 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5348 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.04 yr (1,474 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory
- Followed by
- Q157143
- Follows
- Q157132
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +21.197
- Orbital period
- +1474.079648196822
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
797 Montana, provisional designation 1914 VR, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 November 1914, by Danish astronomer Holger Thiele at Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg, Germany. It was later named for the discovering observatory.
Classification and orbit