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
- 19 May 1919
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A919 KD · 1935 ES, 1942 NB · 1955 LB, A909 HD · 1909 HD, 1919 FL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) Flora · Bg
- Observation arc
- 110.78 yr (40,464 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.5728 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8219 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.1973 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.26 yr (1,190 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 329.43 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q157984
- Follows
- Q157855
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +11.636
- Orbital period
- +1190.40349548164
Show 4 more facts
Article
913 Otila (prov. designation: A919 KD or 1919 FL) is a bright Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory on 19 May 1919. The stony S-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 4.9 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after a common German female name unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, that was taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.
Orbit and classification