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
- Gustav Stracke , (German astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 QN
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Hungaria · background
- Observation arc
- 92.08 yr (33,632 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.0477 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7756 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.9117 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2.64 yr (965 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 316.21 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 22 22.44 / day
Article
1019 Strackea, provisional designation 1924 QN, is a stony Hungaria asteroid of the inner asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 March 1924, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. It is named for German astronomer Gustav Stracke.
Classification and orbit