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
- 18 September 1919
- Named after
- Edgar Schlubach, Henry Frederic Tiarks, ( expedition sponsors )
- Alternative designations
- A919 SJ · A906 UC, 1919 FW · 1906 UC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 112.56 yr (41,114 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2117 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1667 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6892 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.41 yr (1,611 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 314.34 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q158024
- Follows
- Q158014
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +19.228
- Orbital period
- +1610.498792050204
Show 3 more facts
Article
922 Schlutia (prov. designation: A919 SJ or 1919 FW) is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory on 18 September 1919. The asteroid with an unknown spectral type has a rotation period of 7.9 hours and measures approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter. It was named after Edgar Schlubach and Henry Frederic Tiarks, who sponsored an expedition to observe the solar eclipse of 21 September 1922.
Orbit and classification