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
- 14 September 1925
- Named after
- unknown
- Alternative designations
- 1925 RC · A908 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 108.68 yr (39,694 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0904 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1599 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6252 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.25 yr (1,554 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 233.12 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 54.12 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q132864
- Follows
- Q132858
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +8.773
- Orbital period
- +1553.019680554042
- Image
- 001050-asteroid shape model (1050) Meta.png
Show 3 more facts
Article
1050 Meta, provisional designation 1925 RC, is a stony Eunomia asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 14 September 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The meaning of the asteroids's name is unknown. The presumably S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 6.14 hours and possibly an elongated shape.
Orbit and classification