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
- O. Struve
- Discovery site
- Williams Bay
- Discovery date
- 14 November 1922
- Alternative designations
- 1922 ND
- Observation arc
- 93.41 yr (34118 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2866 AU (491.67 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.7715 AU (414.61 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.0291 AU (453.15 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.27 yr (1925.6 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 133.184 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 11 13.056 / day
- Inclination
- 10.843°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 212.248°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 993 Moultona
- Follows
- Q158497
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +27.585
- Orbital period
- +1921.431231973101
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Otto Struve
- P6259
Article
992 Swasey is an asteroid, a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by Otto Struve in 1922 at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. It is named after Ambrose Swasey of the Warner & Swasey Company, which built the 82-inch telescope named after Struve at McDonald Observatory.
References