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
- B. Jekhovsky
- Discovery site
- Algiers Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 June 1925
- Named after
- Fred Prévost, (French engineer)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 LA · A898 VE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 88.15 yr (32,198 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.9776 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2809 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1293 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.54 yr (2,022 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 175.72 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 41.16 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1094 Siberia
- Follows
- Q135824
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +116.73
- Orbital period
- +2026.678054355055
Show 5 more facts
Article
1093 Freda, provisional designation 1925 LA, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt's background population, approximately 110 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 June 1925, by astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at the Algiers Observatory in Algeria, North Africa. The asteroid was named after French engineer Fred Prévost.
Orbit and classification