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. Palisa
- Discovery site
- Vienna Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 September 1923
- Named after
- Gällivare (Swedish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1923 OW · 1929 UJ, 1932 EP · 1951 QL
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis
- Observation arc
- 93.54 yr (34,165 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.7925 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5826 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1875 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.69 yr (2,079 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 248.01 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Gällivare
- Followed by
- 1074 Beljawskya
- Follows
- Q132920
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +25.992
- Orbital period
- +2074.889913017897
- Image
- 001073-asteroid shape model (1073) Gellivara.png
Show 3 more facts
Article
1073 Gellivara, provisional designation 1923 OW, is a dark Themistian asteroid, approximately 27 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Vienna Observatory on 14 September 1923, and later named after the Swedish town of Gällivare.
Orbit and classification