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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 24 November 1924
- Named after
- Edward Tuck , (American philanthropist)
- Alternative designations
- 1924 TK · 1932 VA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Hilda
- Observation arc
- 92.34 yr (33,728 days)
- Aphelion
- 4.8595 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.1044 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.9820 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 7.95 yr (2,902 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 340.94 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 1039 Sonneberga
- Follows
- Q121512
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +58.3
- Orbital period
- +2896.011337220487
Show 4 more facts
Article
1038 Tuckia, provisional designation 1924 TK, is rare-type Hilda asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 58 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 November 1924, by German astronomer by Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after American banker Edward Tuck and his wife.
Classification and orbit