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
- B. Jekhovsky
- Discovery site
- Algiers Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 April 1922
- Named after
- Philippe de Rothschild , (French financier)
- Alternative designations
- A922 GA · 1922 LV, A914 YA · 1914 YA, A919 XA · 1919 XA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 105.05 yr (38,370 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.1990 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.0366 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1178 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.51 yr (2,011 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 355.29 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q158421
- Follows
- Q158407
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +65.471
- Orbital period
- +2012.124217169641
Show 4 more facts
Article
977 Philippa (prov. designation: A922 GA or 1922 LV) is a large background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 65 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 6 April 1922, by Russian–French astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at the Algiers Observatory in Northern Africa. The C-type asteroid is likely irregular in shape and has a rotation period of 15.4 hours. It was named after French financier Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902–1988).
Orbit and classification