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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 March 1924
- Named after
- Arnold Berliner , (German physicist)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 QM · 1926 VK, 1952 BV 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( central )
- Observation arc
- 93.34 yr (34,092 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.1649 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9180 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5414 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.05 yr (1,480 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 204.40 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 35.88 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Arnold Berliner
- Followed by
- Q11557
- Follows
- Q11554
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +16.557
- Orbital period
- +1478.440717594536
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
1018 Arnolda, provisional designation 1924 QM, is a stony asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 March 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after physicist Arnold Berliner.
Classification and orbit