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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 January 1924
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ l eɪ . oʊ d ə ˈ m aɪ ə /
- Named after
- Λαοδάμεια Lāodamīa , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 PK · 1939 FG, 1958 OC
- Minor planet category
- Mars crosser
- Observation arc
- 93.50 yr (34,150 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2315 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.5535 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3925 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.70 yr (1,352 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
Laodamia (minor planet designation: 1011 Laodamia), provisional designation 1924 PK, is a stony asteroid and sizable Mars-crosser near the innermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 January 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after Laodamia from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification