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
- G. Shajn
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 June 1925
- Named after
- Howard Grubb , (Irish telescope maker)
- Alternative designations
- 1925 MA · 1932 WO, 1955 YH · A906 VG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora · Augusta
- Observation arc
- 111.28 yr (40,646 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.6082 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7842 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.1962 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.25 yr (1,189 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 149.50 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Howard Grubb
- Followed by
- 1059 Mussorgskia
- Follows
- Q132878
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +10.92
- Orbital period
- +1188.545164548651
- Image
- 001058-asteroid shape model (1058) Grubba.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1058 Grubba, provisional designation 1925 MA, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 22 June 1925, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Grigory Shajn at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The S-type asteroid was named for Irish telescope maker Howard Grubb. It has a longer-than average rotation period of 46.30 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter.
Orbit and classification