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
- B. Jekhovsky
- Discovery site
- Algiers Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 February 1924
- Named after
- Jacqueline Zadoc-Kahn Eisenmann , (discoverer's pupil)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 QL · 1929 LG, 1953 AC · A924 ED, A924 CH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 92.01 yr (33,607 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8098 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4017 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6058 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.21 yr (1,536 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 292.84 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q11555
- Follows
- Q11553
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +40.152
- Orbital period
- +1536.477185376755
- Image
- 001017-asteroid shape model (1017) Jacqueline.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1017 Jacqueline (prov. designation: A924 CH or 1924 QL) is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 4 February 1924, by Russian-French astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at the Algiers Observatory, Algeria, in North Africa. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.87 hours with a high brightness amplitude of 0.6 magnitude and measures approximately 39 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was named after the French physicist and long-time pupil of the discoverer, Jacqueline Zadoc-Kahn Eisenmann (1904–1998).
Orbit and classification