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
- G. van Biesbroeck
- Discovery site
- Yerkes Obs.
- Discovery date
- 2 December 1923
- Named after
- George Ellery Hale , (American astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- A923 YO 13
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 89.22 yr (32,587 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5095 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2230 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8663 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.85 yr (1,772 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 173.74 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 12 11.16 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- George Ellery Hale
- Followed by
- 1025 Riema
- Follows
- Q118370
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +43.274
- Orbital period
- +1774.668379864497
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1024 Hale, provisional designation A923 YO13, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 2 December 1923, by Belgian–American astronomer George Van Biesbroeck at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, United States. It was named for American astronomer George Ellery Hale. The dark C-type asteroid may have a rotation period of 16 hours.
Orbit and classification