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
- 14 June 1936
- Named after
- Limpopo River
- Alternative designations
- 1936 LB · 1931 BL, 1937 WJ · 1937 YK, 1947 ND · 1965 OD
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 85.81 yr (31,341 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7182 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9869 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3525 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.61 yr (1,318 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 63.865 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Limpopo River
- Followed by
- Q139944
- Follows
- Q139884
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +14.844
- Orbital period
- +1317.454766520336
- Image
- 1490Limpopo (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1490 Limpopo, provisional designation 1936 LB, is a carbonaceous–metallic asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 June 1936, by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. It was named for the Limpopo River.
Orbit