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
- P. Parchomenko
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 August 1929
- Named after
- Grigory Neujmin , (Soviet astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 PH · 1926 AE, A914 WE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 91.40 yr (33,384 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2714 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7734 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0224 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.25 yr (1,919 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 204.95 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Grigory Neujmin
- Followed by
- Q136265
- Follows
- Q136226
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +34.576
- Orbital period
- +1921.244263305071
- Image
- 001129-asteroid shape model (1129) Neujmina.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1129 Neujmina (prov. designation: 1929 PH) is an Eos asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 August 1929, by astronomer Praskoviya Parchomenko at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.1 hours and measures approximately 34 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter. It was named after Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin.
Orbit and classification