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
- Discovery date
- 9 August 1923
- Alternative designations
- 1923 NW
- Observation arc
- 92.68 yr (33850 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1787 AU (475.53 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0450 AU (305.93 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6118 AU (390.72 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1541.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 352.050 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 0.6 / day
- Inclination
- 9.7603°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 214.972°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Franz Xaver von Zach
- Followed by
- 1000 Piazzia
- Follows
- 998 Bodea
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +16.848
- Orbital period
- +1542.789584034522
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
999 Zachia is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Karl W. Reinmuth in 1923 and named after Hungarian astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach.
Photometric observations of this asteroid collected during 1999 show a rotation period of 22.77 ± 0.03 hours with a brightness variation of 0.3 magnitude.