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
- Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )
- Discovery site
- Goethe Link Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 September 1963
- Named after
- Urbain Le Verrier , (mathematician)
- Alternative designations
- 1963 RC · 1940 SF, 1950 TS 3 · 1953 QB, 1973 SX 4 · 1973 UF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Flora
- Observation arc
- 66.72 yr (24,370 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6660 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7520 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2090 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.28 yr (1,199 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 153.46 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Urbain Le Verrier
- Followed by
- Q146613
- Follows
- 1996 Adams
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +6.81
- Orbital period
- +1199.634806571468
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1997 Leverrier (prov. designation: 1963 RC) is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 14 September 1963, by the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States, and named after French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier. The asteroid has a rotation period of 6.8 hours and measures approximately 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) in diameter.
Classification and orbit