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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 June 1929
- Named after
- Stavropol (Russian city)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 LF · 1946 KA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 87.80 yr (32,068 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7977 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7439 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2708 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.42 yr (1,250 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 271.25 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 16.8 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- small Solar System body
- Named after
- Stavropol
- Followed by
- Q136468
- Follows
- Q136455
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +13.43
- Orbital period
- +1249.488559501366
- Image
- 001147-asteroid shape model (1147) Stavropolis.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1147 Stavropolis (prov. designation: 1929 LF) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 11 June 1929, by Georgian–Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.7 hours and measures approximately 14 kilometers (9 miles) in diameter. It was named after the Russian city of Stavropol.
Orbit and classification