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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery date
- 10 February 1913
- Pronunciation
- / b oʊ ˈ t ɒ l f i ə /
- Named after
- Saint Botolph
- Alternative designations
- 1913 QT; A909 HA; 1973 GN
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 107.00 yr (39080 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.91350 AU (435.853 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.52742 AU (378.097 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.72046 AU (406.975 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.49 yr (1,638.9 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 8.49527 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Botwulf of Thorney
- Followed by
- Q536659
- Follows
- Q156856
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +29.64
- Orbital period
- +1638.400288903783
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
741 Botolphia is a 29.6-km diameter minor planet (specifically an asteroid) orbiting in the asteroid belt, discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on 10 February 1913 from Winchester. It is named after Saint Botolph, the semi-legendary founder of a 7th-century monastery that would become the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. This asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 2.72 AU from the Sun, with an orbital period of 4.49 yr and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.07. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 8.41° to the ecliptic.
Photometric data collected during 2007 were used to produce an asteroid light curve showing a rotation period of 23.93±0.02 h, with a brightness amplitude of 0.015 in magnitude. This result is consistent with earlier results by independent observers. 741 Botolphia was initially classified as an X-type asteroid, but it may instead belong to the M-type taxonomy.