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
- 4 June 1918
- Named after
- Erda, goddess in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen , ( Norse mythology )
- Alternative designations
- A918 LA · 1973 QB, A907 JC · 1907 JC, A912 HD · 1912 HD, 1918 DT
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 112.73 yr (41,173 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4642 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7752 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1197 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.51 yr (2,013 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 150.20 °
- Mean motion
Article
894 Erda (prov. designation: A918 LA or 1918 DT) is a bright background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 4 June 1918, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The X-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 4.7 hours and measures approximately 37 kilometers (23 miles) in diameter. It was likely named after a character in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, "Erda", who is the goddess of wisdom, fate and Earth, borrowed from the Norse sagas, and referring to both Urðr and Jörð in Norse mythology.
Orbit and classification