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
- 16 September 1925
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m ɛr ə p iː /
- Named after
- Μερόπη Meropē , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 SA · 1926 XA, 1931 TM 3 · 1936 OG, A908 TE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Alauda
- Observation arc
- 92.19 yr (33,673 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5341 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8948 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.2144 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.76 yr (2,105 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Merope
- Followed by
- 1052 Belgica
- Follows
- Q132861
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +60.439
- Orbital period
- +2106.035807396592
Show 3 more facts
Article
1051 Merope /ˈmɛrəpiː/ is a dark Alauda asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 68 kilometers (42 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 16 September 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany, and given the provisional designation 1925 SA. Reinmuth named it after the nymph Merope from Greek mythology. The asteroid has a rotation period of 27.2 hours.
Orbit and classification