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
- J. F. Hartmann
- Discovery site
- La Plata Obs.
- Discovery date
- 28 April 1924
- Named after
- La Plata (city in Argentina , and discovering observatory)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 RK · 1938 DR 2 , 1969 OU · A916 UL, A916 UR
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Koronis
- Observation arc
- 100.68 yr (36,772 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9715 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.8083 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8899 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.91 yr (1,794 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 87.729 °
- Mean motion
Article
1029 La Plata, provisional designation 1924 RK, is a stony Koronis asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 28 April 1924, by German astronomer Johannes Hartmann at the La Plata Astronomical Observatory in Argentina. It was named after the city of La Plata, Argentina, where the discovering observatory is located. The possibly elongated S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 15.31 hours.
Orbit and classification