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
- 30 October 1918
- Named after
- Fairy tale character "Ilsebill" , ( The Fisherman and his Wife )
- Alternative designations
- A918 UD · 1935 JG, 1950 RP · 1950 SE, 1950 TN · 1972 MA, 1918 EQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 101.19 yr (36,960 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0033 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5408 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7721 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.62 yr (1,686 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 14.861 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 920 Rogeria
- Follows
- 918 Itha
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +33.5
- Orbital period
- +1687.379779150416
Show 4 more facts
Article
919 Ilsebill (prov. designation: A918 UD or 1918 EQ) is a dark background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 30 October 1918, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 5.0 hours and measures approximately 33 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was named after "Ilsebill", a character in the fairy tale The Fisherman and his Wife by the Brothers Grimm.
Orbit and classification