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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 September 1923
- Named after
- François Arago , (French mathematician)
- Alternative designations
- 1923 OT
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 93.51 yr (34,156 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.5381 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7937 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1659 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.63 yr (2,058 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 206.34 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 30 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- François Arago
- Followed by
- Q11534
- Follows
- 1004 Belopolskya
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +61.132
- Orbital period
- +2055.720746398546
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
Arago (minor planet designation: 1005 Arago), provisional designation 1923 OT, is a dark asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 55 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 September 1923, by Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after French mathematician François Arago.
Classification and orbit