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
- Max Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Observatory
- Discovery date
- 22 July 1917
- Named after
- Ricarda Huch
- Alternative designations
- 1917 CJ
- Observation arc
- 98.74 yr (36066 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9230 AU (437.27 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1433 AU (320.63 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5332 AU (378.96 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.03 yr (1472.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 167.363 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 40.056 / day
- Inclination
- 13.669°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Ricarda Huch
- Followed by
- Q157599
- Follows
- 878 Mildred
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +18.312
- Orbital period
- +1471.427681047574
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
- P65
Article
879 Ricarda is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on July 22, 1917.
This is a member of the dynamic Maria family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body.