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
- 20 January 1925
- Named after
- Dorothea Klumpke , (American astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 BD · 1930 DC 1 , 1936 BB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Tirela
- Observation arc
- 93.10 yr (34,005 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.7117 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5142 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1129 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.49 yr (2,006 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 4.1328 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Dorothea Klumpke
- Followed by
- Q121577
- Follows
- 1039 Sonneberga
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +22.34
- Orbital period
- +2011.870511150616
- Image
- 001040-asteroid shape model (1040) Klumpkea.png
Show 3 more facts
Article
1040 Klumpkea, provisional designation 1925 BD, is a Tirela asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 20 January 1925, by Russian–French astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at the Algiers Observatory in North Africa. This highly elongated asteroid is the largest member of the stony Tirela family – also known as the Klumpkea family – and has a longer than average rotation period of 59.2 hours. It was named after American astronomer Dorothea Klumpke.
Orbit and classification