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
- 6 December 1925
- Pronunciation
- / æ k w ɪ ˈ l iː dʒ ( i ) ə /
- Named after
- Aquilegia ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1925 XA · 1948 EP, 1956 SK · A906 KA, A910 NC · A920 GB, A923 CA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora · background
- Observation arc
- 111.49 yr (40,722 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.4058 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2223 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3141 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.52 yr (1,286 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1063 Aquilegia, provisional designation 1925 XA, is a background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 December 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the flowering plant Aquilegia (columbine).
Orbit and classification