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
- Named after
- Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , (Germany's nat'l academy)
- Alternative designations
- A918 KD · 1935 OL, 1918 DS
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 101.67 yr (37,134 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5069 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6027 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0548 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.34 yr (1,950 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 291.98 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- Followed by
- Q157681
- Follows
- Q157667
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +85.992
- Orbital period
- +1949.142583059449
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
- P65
Article
893 Leopoldina (prov. designation: A918 KD or 1918 DS) is a large and elongated background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory on 31 May 1918. The dark carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 14.1 hours and measures approximately 76 kilometers (47 miles) in diameter. It was named for Germany's national academy, the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle.
Orbit and classification