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
- C. A. Wirtanen
- Discovery site
- Lick Obs.
- Discovery date
- 17 July 1948
- Named after
- Betulia Toro Herrick, (wife Samuel Herrick )
- Alternative designations
- 1948 OA
- Minor planet category
- NEO · Apollo , Mars-crosser
- Observation arc
- 76.75 yr (28,032 days)
- Aphelion
- 1.9643 AU
- Perihelion
- 0.7714 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.3679 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 1.60 yr (584 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 319.462 °
- Inclination
- 9.382°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Followed by
- Q142362
- Follows
- 1684 Iguassú
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +3.4
- Orbital period
- +584.3199923078618
- Image
- 001685-asteroid shape model (1685) Toro.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1685 Toro (prov. designation: 1948 OA) is an asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group on an eccentric orbit. It was discovered on 17 July 1948, by American astronomer Carl Wirtanen at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 10.2 hours and measures approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in diameter. It is named for Betulia Toro Herrick, wife of astronomer Samuel Herrick.
Classification and orbit