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
- 2 August 1926
- Pronunciation
- / iː ˈ θj uː s ə /
- Named after
- Aethusa cynapium , (fool's parsley)
- Alternative designations
- 1926 PA · 1962 HF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 90.66 yr (33,112 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9930 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0917 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5424 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.05 yr (1,481 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 165.59 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Aethusa cynapium
- Followed by
- Q132901
- Follows
- Q132896
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +20.007
- Orbital period
- +1483.369114484759
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1064 Aethusa, provisional designation 1926 PA, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 19 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 2 August 1926, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the plant Aethusa cynapium (fool's parsley).
Orbit and classification