Q154999

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

Raymond Smith Dugan

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

19 February 1903

Pronunciation

/ l eɪ ˈ ɒ d ɪ k ə /

Alternative designations

1903 LO

Minor planet category

Main belt , Laodica family

Observation arc

109.58 yr (40025 d)

Aphelion

3.4678 AU (518.78 Gm )

Perihelion

2.8401 AU (424.87 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.1540 AU (471.83 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.60 yr (2045.9 d )

Mean anomaly

189.236 °

Mean motion

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Laodice

Followed by

508 Princetonia

Follows

506 Marion

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

+45.17

Orbital period

+2048.380569419571