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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 27 March 1916
- Pronunciation
- / æ l ˈ t oʊ n ə /
- Named after
- German city of Altona
- Alternative designations
- A916 FG · A923 RP, 1916 Σ24 · 1923 RP
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 102.52 yr (37,446 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3753 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6234 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9994 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.19 yr (1,897 d)
- Mean anomaly
Article
850 Altona (prov. designation: A916 FG or 1916 Σ24) is a large background asteroid, approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) in diameter, that is located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 27 March 1916, by Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The X-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.2 hours. It was named after the city of Altona near Hamburg, Germany.
Orbit and classification