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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 March 1919
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈanəliːzə ]
- Named after
- Anneliese, friend of astronomer Julius Dick
- Alternative designations
- A919 EC · 1946 SJ, 1975 AH · A924 BD, 1919 FB · 1924 BD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 100.93 yr (36,864 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3765 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4747 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9256 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.00 yr (1,828 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 911 Agamemnon
- Follows
- 909 Ulla
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +48.59
- Orbital period
- +1826.711814486689
Show 4 more facts
Article
910 Anneliese (prov. designation: A919 EC or 1919 FB) is a dark background asteroid, approximately 48 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 1 March 1919, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid (Ch) has a rotation period of 11.3 hours and is likely spherical in shape. It was named by German astronomer Julius Dick after his friend "Anneliese".
Orbit and classification