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
- J. Comas Solà
- Discovery site
- Fabra Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 November 1928
- Named after
- Josep Comas i Solà , (discoverer himself)
- Alternative designations
- 1928 VA · 1960 WQ, A899 KB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 86.24 yr (31,499 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4119 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7311 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0715 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.38 yr (1,966 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 267.80 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Josep Comas i Solà
- Followed by
- 1103 Sequoia
- Follows
- Q135934
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +36.632
- Orbital period
- +1965.677658106699
- Image
- 1102Pepita (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1102 Pepita, provisional designation 1928 VA, is a stony background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 39 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 November 1928, by Catalan astronomer Josep Comas i Solà at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, Spain. It was named after the discoverer by the feminine form of his nickname. The asteroid has a rotation period of 5.1 hours.
Orbit and classification