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
- August Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 20 August 1908
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k ɪ p r i ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1908 DQ
- Observation arc
- 110.22 yr (40258 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2452 AU (485.48 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7840 AU (416.48 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0146 AU (450.98 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.23 yr (1911.8 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 277.943 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 17.88 / day
- Inclination
- 10.794°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q156378
- Follows
- Q156359
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +29.227
- Orbital period
- +1913.452478575969
- Image
- 669Kypria (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
669 Kypria is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on August 20, 1908. It is named after the lost Greek poem Cypria, which explained the causes of the Trojan War and served as a prequel to the Iliad.
This body is a member of the dynamic Eos family of asteroids that most likely formed as the result of a collisional breakup of a parent body. It is orbiting the Sun with a semimajor axis of 3.01 km and a low eccentricity of 0.076, causing it to vary in distance from 2.78 to 3.25 AU during each orbital period of 5.23 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 10.79° relative to the plane of the ecliptic.