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
- James Craig Watson
- Discovery date
- 6 September 1867
- Pronunciation
- / ə ˈ r ɔːr ə , ɒ -/
- Named after
- Aurōra
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Aurorean / ɔː ˈ r ɔːr i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 143.72 yr (52494 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.45175 AU (516.374 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.86831 AU (429.093 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.16003 AU (472.734 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.62 yr (2051.8 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 16.73 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Aurora
- Followed by
- 95 Arethusa
- Follows
- 93 Minerva
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +204.89
- Orbital period
- +2048.229493400645
- Image
- 94Aurora (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
94 Aurora is one of the largest main-belt asteroids. With an albedo of only 0.04, it is darker than soot, and has a primitive composition consisting of carbonaceous material. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on September 6, 1867, in Ann Arbor, and named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn.
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.62 years and a relatively low eccentricity of 0.092. It is spinning with a rotation period of 7.22 hours. Observations of an occultation using nine chords indicate an oval outline of 225×173 km. The asteroid's pole of rotation lies just 4–16° away from the plane of the ecliptic.