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
- 4 October 1926
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m æ l v ə /
- Named after
- Malva ( flowering plant )
- Alternative designations
- 1926 TA · 1949 UU
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 91.08 yr (33,267 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.9291 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4010 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1650 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.63 yr (2,057 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 355.23 °
Article
1072 Malva, provisional designation 1926 TA, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 48 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 October 1926, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany. The asteroid was named after the flowering plant Malva (mallow).
Orbit and classification