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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 April 1916
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- A916 HD · 1930 MG, 1934 HE · 1935 SW 1 , 1948 PJ 1 · 1957 QC, 1962 UK · 1962 VC, 1916 ZO
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 103.52 yr (37,809 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2705 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1532 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7119 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.47 yr (1,631 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 51.962 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157308
- Follows
- 825 Tanina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +22.556
- Orbital period
- +1632.030562599685
Show 4 more facts
Article
826 Henrika (prov. designation: A916 HD or 1916 ZO) is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 28 April 1916. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.98 hours and measures approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) in diameter. Any reference to the origin of the asteroid's name is unknown.
Orbit and classification