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
- O. Oikawa
- Discovery site
- Tokyo Astronomical Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 November 1927
- Named after
- Mitaka (Japanese village)
- Alternative designations
- 1927 WA · 1942 FR, 1953 VW 3 · 1971 BE, A917 RA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) background
- Observation arc
- 88.22 yr (32,224 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.6328 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7722 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2025 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.27 yr (1,194 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 200.92 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Mitaka
- Followed by
- 1089 Tama
- Follows
- Q135773
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +15.137
- Orbital period
- +1193.138213066049
- Image
- 1088Mitaka (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Okuro Oikawa
Article
1088 Mitaka (prov. designation: 1927 WA) is a bright background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 17 November 1927, by Japanese astronomer Okuro Oikawa at the old Tokyo Astronomical Observatory in Japan. The stony S-type asteroid has a notably short rotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) in diameter. It was named after the Japanese village of Mitaka.
Orbit and classification