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
- P. F. Shajn
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 September 1948
- Named after
- Institute for Theoretical Astronomy (USSR)
- Alternative designations
- 1948 RJ 1 · 1929 DA, 1931 RF 1 · 1934 BC, 1935 GC · 1937 TN, 1948 TB 1 · 1948 TK, 1951 DL · 1951 EY, 1952 HN 2 · 1952 JB, A907 GC
Article
1735 ITA (prov. designation: 1948 RJ1) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 62 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 September 1948, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Pelageya Shajn at the Simeiz Observatory located on the Crimean peninsula. It was named for the Institute for Theoretical Astronomy (ITA) in what is now Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Classification and orbit