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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 11 March 1924
- Named after
- Camille Flammarion , (French astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RG · 1977 UM, A910 CE
- Minor planet category
Article
1021 Flammario, provisional designation 1924 RG, is a dark background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 11 March 1924, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany. The asteroid was named after French astronomer Camille Flammarion. An F-type asteroid, it has a rotation period of 12.16 hours.
Orbit and classification