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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 13 September 1926
- Pronunciation
- / n ɒ f r ə ˈ t iː t ə /
- Named after
- Nefertiti , (Ancient Egyptian Queen)
- Alternative designations
- 1926 RK · 1929 CV
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 88.73 yr (32,409 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1868 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6274 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9071 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.96 yr (1,810 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1068 Nofretete (/nɒfrəˈtiːtə/), provisional designation 1926 RK, is a stony asteroid from the background population in the outer asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 September 1926, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named after the Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti by its German name "Nofretete". The near-Earth asteroid 3199 Nefertiti is also named after her.
Orbit and classification