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. Kowal
- Discovery site
- Palomar Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 April 1977
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b æ k ə s / BAK -əs
- Named after
- Bacchus (Dionysus in Greek) , (Roman god)
- Alternative designations
- 1977 HB
- Minor planet category
- NEO · Apollo , Venus-crosser
- Adjectives
- Bacchian / ˈ b æ k i ə n /
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Observation arc
- 39.10 yr (14,282 days)
- Aphelion
- 1.4545 AU
- Perihelion
- 0.7013 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.0779 AU
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Named after
- Dionysus
- Followed by
- 2064 Thomsen
- Follows
- 2062 Aten
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +1.024
- Orbital period
- +408.8139848299297
- Image
- 2063 Bacchus (simulation).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
2063 Bacchus, provisional designation 1977 HB, is a stony asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 1 kilometer in diameter. The contact binary was discovered on 24 April 1977, by American astronomer Charles Kowal at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It was named after Bacchus from Roman mythology.
Orbit and classification