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
- 31 May 1918
- Alternative designations
- 1918 DR
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Alauda
- Observation arc
- 97.87 yr (35747 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5632 AU (533.05 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.8970 AU (433.39 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.2301 AU (483.22 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.81 yr (2120.4 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 83.4390 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 11.208 / day
- Inclination
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hugo von Seeliger
- Followed by
- Q157680
- Follows
- 891 Gunhild
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +74.481
- Orbital period
- +2114.308022033145
Show 3 more facts
Article
892 Seeligeria is dark Alauda asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on May 31, 1918 in Heidelberg and assigned a preliminary designation of 1918 DR. It was named after German astronomer Hugo Hans von Seeliger.
Photometric observations at the Oakley Observatory in Terre Haute, Indiana, during 2007 were used to build a light curve for 892 Seeligeria. The asteroid displayed a rotation period of 15.78 ± 0.04 hours and a brightness variation of 0.35 ± 0.07 in magnitude.