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
- 4 November 1932
- Named after
- Rutherford , ( inner suburb of New York City )
- Alternative designations
- 1932 VB · 1925 SF, 1942 XV
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora
- Observation arc
- 84.98 yr (31,040 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.3947 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0534 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2240 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.32 yr (1,211 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 150.14 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Ernest Rutherford
- Followed by
- Q137327
- Follows
- Q137295
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +13.063
- Orbital period
- +1211.831584080896
- Image
- 1249Rutherfordia (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1249 Rutherfordia, provisional designation 1932 VB, is an elongated, stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in 1932, the asteroid was named after Rutherford, New Jersey a suburb of New York City, United States.
Discovery