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
- S. Belyavskyj
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 June 1924
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɑːr t ɪ k ə /
- Named after
- Arctic Ocean
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RR · A910 VB, A913 JA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 92.59 yr (33,820 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2208 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8767 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.0487 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.32 yr (1,944 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 242.71 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Arctic Ocean
- Followed by
- Q121472
- Follows
- Q121353
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +75.4
- Orbital period
- +1943.177332225435
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1031 Arctica, provisional designation 1924 RR, is a dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 75 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 June 1924, by Soviet−Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. It was named for the Arctic Sea.
Classification and orbit