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
- 30 July 1922
- Named after
- Name picked from the almanac , Lahrer Hinkender Bote
- Alternative designations
- A922 OD · 1934 SE, 1940 TF · 1944 LA, 1949 JB · 1955 HV, 1922 ME · 1949 JB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 97.43 yr (35,585 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4513 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8707 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1610 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.62 yr (2,053 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 209.40 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 984 Gretia
- Follows
- 982 Franklina
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +73.87
- Orbital period
- +2054.303715124302
Show 4 more facts
Article
983 Gunila (prov. designation: A922 OD or 1922 ME), is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 30 July 1922, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The X-type asteroid has an ambiguous rotation period of 8.3 or 16.6 hours. It was named "Gunila", a common German female name unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, that was taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.
Orbit and classification