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
- 25 June 1924
- Named after
- St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig , (German boys' choir )
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RU · 1936 RG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 92.86 yr (33,916 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4893 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8442 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1667 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.64 yr (2,058 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 107.00 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q757151
- Follows
- Q11565
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +58.27
- Orbital period
- +2063.822897905509
- Image
- 001023-asteroid shape model (1023) Thomana.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1023 Thomana, provisional designation 1924 RU, is a rare-type carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 58 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 25 June 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig.
Classification and orbit