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
- 3 March 1921
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A921 EL · 1921 JE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 98.85 yr (36,104 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5276 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5362 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0319 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.28 yr (1,928 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 277.84 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q158197
- Follows
- Q158184
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +17.331
- Orbital period
- +1928.585319842137
Show 3 more facts
Article
948 Jucunda (provisional designation: A921 EL or 1921 JE) is a background asteroid, approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter, located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 March 1921, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid has a longer-than average rotation period of 26.2 hours. 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