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
- 31 May 1929
- Pronunciation
- / d ɪ ˈ m iː t ər /
- Named after
- Demeter (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 KA · 1963 MF
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Phocaea · background
- Observation arc
- 88.65 yr (32,378 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.0510 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8040 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4275 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.78 yr (1,381 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Demeter
- Followed by
- Q136036
- Follows
- 1107 Lictoria
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +25.285
- Orbital period
- +1383.198375223963
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1108 Demeter, provisional designation 1929 KA, is a dark asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 31 May 1929, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory near Heidelberg, Germany. The asteroid was named after Demeter, the Greek goddess of fruitful soil and agriculture. It has a rotation period of 9.846 hours.
Orbit and classification