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
- 8 August 1932
- Named after
- Kráoly Móra, (Hungarian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 PE · 1928 QA, 1935 KL · 1964 VO, 1964 WA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 88.80 yr (32,434 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6962 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2815 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4888 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.93 yr (1,434 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 335.03 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q137377
- Follows
- 1256 Normannia
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +21.392
- Orbital period
- +1433.475386465945
Show 3 more facts
Article
1257 Móra, provisional designation 1932 PE, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1932, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after Hungarian astronomer Károly Móra [hu].
Orbit and classification