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
- 8 August 1932
- Pronunciation
- / s ɪ ˈ s ɪ l i ə /
- Named after
- Sicily (Italian island)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 PG · 1935 BG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 85.22 yr (31,128 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3218 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.0484 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1851 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.68 yr (2,076 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Sicily
- Followed by
- 1259 Ógyalla
- Follows
- 1257 Móra
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +45.669
- Orbital period
- +2078.831870627343
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1258 Sicilia, provisional designation 1932 PG, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 44 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1932, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the Italian island of Sicily.
Orbit and classification