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
- 23 September 1917
- Named after
- Ulrike von Levetzow , (friend and love of Goethe )
- Alternative designations
- 1917 CX · 1933 QQ, 1934 XL · A906 SE, 1917 CX · 1906 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background · Themis
- Observation arc
- 112.98 yr (41,267 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.6720 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5253 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0987 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.45 yr (1,992 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 318.39 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Ulrike von Levetzow
- Followed by
- Q112385
- Follows
- 884 Priamus
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +30.537
- Orbital period
- +1992.272624275965
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
885 Ulrike (prov. designation: A917 SV or 1917 CX) is an elongated Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 23 September 1917, by Soviet astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The presumed C-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 4.9 hours and measures approximately 33 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was likely named after Ulrike von Levetzow, last love of Goethe.
Orbit and classification