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
- 12 January 1924
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ l ɪ l i ə m /
- Named after
- Līlium ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1924 PN · 1929 BE, 1936 QE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 110.67 yr (40,421 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1444 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6552 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8998 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.94 yr (1,804 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lilium
- Followed by
- Q135840
- Follows
- 1091 Spiraea
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +40.276
- Orbital period
- +1803.872593392741
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1092 Lilium, provisional designation 1924 PN, is a dark, carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 44 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 January 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the flower Lilium (true lily).
Orbit and classification