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
- O. Oikawa
- Discovery site
- Tokyo Astronomical Obs. ( 389 )
- Discovery date
- 17 November 1927
- Named after
- Nikkō (Japanese city)
- Alternative designations
- 1927 WC · 1930 SE 1 , 1930 SG 1 · 1930 SH 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 86.78 yr (31,697 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.4744 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0006 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2375 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.35 yr (1,222 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 280.93 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Nikkō-shi
- Followed by
- Q136858
- Follows
- Q136845
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +8.347
- Orbital period
- +1222.193088590588
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Okuro Oikawa
- P720
Article
1185 Nikko, provisional designation 1927 WC, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 November 1927 by Okuro Oikawa at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, Japan. The asteroid was named after the Japanese city of Nikkō.
Orbit and classification