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
- S. Arend
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 13 January 1929
- Named after
- "Mimi" Delporte, (wife of Eugène Delporte )
- Alternative designations
- 1929 AJ · 1948 PU, A906 OA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 87.10 yr (31,812 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2821 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9104 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5962 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.18 yr (1,528 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 122.26 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q136226
- Follows
- Q136212
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +46.006
- Orbital period
- +1524.588004741356
- Image
- 001127-asteroid shape model (1127) Mimi.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1127 Mimi (prov. designation: 1929 AJ) is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 13 January 1929, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The carbonaceous C-type asteroids (CX) has a rotation period of 12.7 hours and measures approximately 47 kilometers (29 miles) in diameter. Through a glitch in the naming process, the asteroid received the name "Mimi" instead of "Robelmonte" as originally intended by the discoverer.
Orbit and classification