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
- G. van Biesbroeck
- Discovery site
- Yerkes Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 December 1924
- Named after
- Edwin Van Biesbroeck , (discoverer's son)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 UA · 1949 RB, 1949 YL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 91.86 yr (33,553 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1769 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7895 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9832 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.15 yr (1,882 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 53.846 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- (1047) Geisha
- Follows
- 1045 Michela
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +29.084
- Orbital period
- +1884.230458362953
- Image
- Orbit of 1046 Edwin.gif
Show 4 more facts
Article
1046 Edwin, provisional designation 1924 UA, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 December 1924, by Belgian–American astronomer George Van Biesbroeck at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, United States, who named it after his son, Edwin Van Biesbroeck. The potentially metallic asteroid has a short rotation period of 5.29 hours.
Orbit and classification