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
- 3 April 1916
- Named after
- Simon Newcomb , ( United States Naval Observatory )
- Alternative designations
- A916 GP · 1935 SJ 1 , 1938 KB · 1916 ZP
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , background
- Observation arc
- 103.77 yr (37,902 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7845 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9403 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3624 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.63 yr (1,326 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 211.62 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Simon Newcomb
- Followed by
- 856 Backlunda
- Follows
- Q157446
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +12.392
- Orbital period
- +1325.30887326758
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
855 Newcombia (prov. designation: A916 GP or 1916 ZP) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 April 1916, by astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The S-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after Canadian–American astronomer Simon Newcomb (1835–1909).
Orbit and classification