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
- 13 May 1909
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɡ ɔːr ɡ oʊ /
- Alternative designations
- 1909 GZ
- Observation arc
- 83.58 yr (30526 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.4247 AU (512.33 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7859 AU (416.76 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1053 AU (464.55 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.47 yr (1998.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 145.868 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 48.396 / day
- Inclination
- 12.580°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 682 Hagar
- Follows
- Q156450
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +20.39
- Orbital period
- +2001.623070634183
Show 3 more facts
Article
681 Gorgo is a minor planet orbiting the Sun.
'Gorgo' is German for Gorgon. However, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Antonio Paluzie-Borrell suggest it may refer to "King of Salamine, in the 5th century B.C., who accompanied Xerxes in Greece."