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
- S. I. Bailey
- Discovery site
- Boyden Stn.(Arequipa)
- Discovery date
- 30 June 1902
- Named after
- Mama Qura , second queen of the Kingdom of Cuzco
- Alternative designations
- 1902 LK · 1947 OH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 110.44 yr (40,337 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3127 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1296 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7212 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.49 yr (1,640 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 147.01 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 505 Cava
- Follows
- Q154961
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +30.438
- Orbital period
- +1640.13190410276
Show 3 more facts
- P720
- X-type asteroid
- P6259
Article
504 Cora, provisional designation 1902 LK, is a metallic asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Solon Bailey at Harvard's Boyden Station in Arequipa, Peru, on 30 June 1902. It was later named after Cora, a figure in Inca mythology.
Classification and orbit