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
- 7 March 1924
- Pronunciation
- / ɑːr ˈ k eɪ d i ə /
- Named after
- Arcadia (Greek region)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 QV · 1954 UA 2 , 1975 EQ · 1977 QO 2
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Agnia
- Observation arc
- 93.89 yr (34,293 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9152 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6666 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7909 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.66 yr (1,703 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Arcadia Regional Unit
- Followed by
- 1021 Flammario
- Follows
- Q11557
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +10.067
- Orbital period
- +1704.829698418634
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
1020 Arcadia, provisional designation 1924 QV, is a stony Agnia asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 7 March 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany. The asteroid was named after the Greek region of Arcadia.
Orbit and classification