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
- 10 March 1920
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A920 ED · 1920 GR
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) Flora · Bg
- Observation arc
- 99.82 yr (36,460 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.4921 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9859 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2390 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.35 yr (1,224 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 249.25 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q158070
- Follows
- 928 Hildrun
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +11.443
- Orbital period
- +1223.021112599975
Show 4 more facts
Article
929 Algunde (prov. designation: A920 ED or 1920 GR), is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, that measures approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 10 March 1920. The S-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 3.3 hours and is likely spherical in shape. It was named "Algunde", a common German female name unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, that was taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.
Orbit and classification