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. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg
- Discovery date
- 16 February 1906
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b ɪ l k ɪ s /
- Alternative designations
- 1906 TA
- Observation arc
- 110.16 yr (40236 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7440 AU (410.50 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1173 AU (316.74 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.4307 AU (363.63 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.79 yr (1384.2 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 60.5077 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 15 36.288 / day
- Inclination
- 7.5679°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Bilqis
- Followed by
- Q155694
- Follows
- 584 Semiramis
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +49.761
- Orbital period
- +1383.607184345074
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- August Kopff
- P65
Article
585 Bilkis is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff in 1906 February and was given the Koran name for the Queen of Sheba. Photometric observations at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2006–7 were used to build a light curve for this object. The asteroid displayed a rotation period of 8.5742 ± 0.0005 hours and a brightness variation of 0.40 ± 0.02 in magnitude.
References