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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 November 1932
- Named after
- Eugène Delporte , (Belgian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1932 WC · 1926 AA, 1928 RX · 1934 JD, A918 RA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Flora
- Observation arc
- 98.84 yr (36,101 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.4813 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9772 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2292 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.33 yr (1,216 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 33.180 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Eugène Joseph Delporte
- Followed by
- Q137505
- Follows
- Q137487
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +9.611
- Orbital period
- +1215.290733374914
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1274 Delportia, provisional designation 1932 WC, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 November 1932, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at Uccle Observatory in Belgium. It was named after the discoverer himself.
Orbit and classification