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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 October 1938
- Named after
- Imatra (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 UY · 1938 YH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Ursula
- Observation arc
- 78.53 yr (28,682 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4132 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8113 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1123 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.49 yr (2,005 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 179.71 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 46.2 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Imatra
- Followed by
- 1521 Seinäjoki
- Follows
- Q140370
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +53.435
- Orbital period
- +2002.453462926001
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Yrjö Väisälä
- P65
Article
1520 Imatra (provisional designation 1938 UY) is a carbonaceous Ursula asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 54 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 October 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, who named after the Finnish town of Imatra.
Orbit