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
- 20 October 1919
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A919 UF · 1919 GC, A906 BA · 1906 BA, A914 UD · 1914 UD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 113.78 yr (41,557 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.3879 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4888 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9383 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.04 yr (1,840 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 355.92 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 925 Alphonsina
- Follows
- Q158024
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +85.49
- Orbital period
- +1839.919694582857
Show 4 more facts
Article
924 Toni (prov. designation: A919 UF or 1919 GC) is a large background asteroid, approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) in diameter, from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 20 October 1919, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory. The X-type asteroid has a rotation period of 19.4 hours. It was named "Toni", a common German female name unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, that was taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.
Orbit and classification