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
- A. Schmitt
- Discovery site
- Algiers Obs.
- Discovery date
- 19 January 1932
- Named after
- Louis Boyer , (French astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 BA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia · Maria
- Observation arc
- 85.46 yr (31,214 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9213 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2352 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5783 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.14 yr (1,512 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 324.91 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 17.16 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Louis Boyer
- Followed by
- Q137061
- Follows
- Q137049
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +13.041
- Orbital period
- +1512.812802280956
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1215 Boyer, provisional designation 1932 BA, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by astronomer Alfred Schmitt in 1932, who named it after French astronomer and college Louis Boyer.
Discovery