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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 20 March 1915
- Pronunciation
- / ɛ p i ˈ æ k s ə /
- Named after
- Epyaxa, (Queen, 400 BC)
- Alternative designations
- 1915 WR · 1930 YK, 1931 AX · 1970 AM 1 , 1972 XW · 1977 FG 3
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Flora
- Observation arc
- 101.08 yr (36920 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.3696 AU (354.49 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0225 AU (302.56 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.1960 AU (328.52 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.25 yr (1188.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 803 Picka
- Follows
- Q157172
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +7.423
- Orbital period
- +1188.492893711516
Show 3 more facts
Article
802 Epyaxa, provisional designation 1915 WR, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany, on 20 March 1915.
Description