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
- C. Jackson
- Discovery site
- Johannesburg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 1 August 1929
- Named after
- Herbert Hall Turner , (British astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 PL · 1930 UO, 1930 WL · 1932 CC, A919 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Eos
- Observation arc
- 87.93 yr (32,115 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3314 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7190 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0252 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.26 yr (1,922 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 252.20 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Herbert Hall Turner
- Followed by
- Q136862
- Follows
- Q136853
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +34.29
- Orbital period
- +1920.666387804077
- Image
- 001186-asteroid shape model (1186) Turnera.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1186 Turnera, provisional designation 1929 PL, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 August 1929, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg. The asteroid was later named after British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner.
Classification and orbit