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
- A. Charlois
- Discovery site
- Nice Obs.
- Discovery date
- 19 March 1893
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɪ s ə r ə /
- Named after
- Isère River , ( river in France)
- Alternative designations
- 1893 T · 1976 AB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora
- Observation arc
- 117.10 yr (42,772 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.5532 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.8881 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2206 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.31 yr (1,209 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 322.26 °
Article
364 Isara is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 March 1893, by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at the Nice Observatory in southeast France. The asteroid was named after the Isère River in France.
Orbit and classification