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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 February 1907
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ h ɛ k t ər /
- Named after
- Hector (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1907 XM; 1948 VD
- Minor planet category
- Jupiter trojan · Hektor , Greeks
- Adjectives
- Hektorean or Hektorian , (both / h ɛ k ˈ t ɔːr i ə n / )
- Observation arc
- 111.28 yr (40,646 d)
- Aphelion
- 5.3824 AU
- Perihelion
- 5.1319 AU
- Semi major axis
- 5.2571 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hector
- Followed by
- 625 Xenia
- Follows
- 623 Chimaera
- Parent body
- Sun
- Child body
- Skamandrios
- Diameter
- +225
- Mass
- +9950000000000000000
- Orbital period
- +4426.792722460235
- Image
- 624Hektor-LB1-mag15.jpg
Show 4 more facts
Article
624 Hektor /ˈhɛktər/ is the largest Jupiter trojan and the namesake of the Hektor family, with a highly elongated shape equivalent in volume to a sphere of approximately 225 to 250 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 February 1907, by astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany, and named after the Trojan prince Hector, from Greek mythology. It has one small 12-kilometer sized satellite, Skamandrios, discovered in 2006.
Description