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
- 8 September 1929
- Named after
- Ithaca (Greek Ionian Island )
- Alternative designations
- 1929 RK · 1966 LA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner )
- Observation arc
- 87.63 yr (32,007 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0719 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.7417 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4068 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.73 yr (1,364 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 212.71 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 15 50.4 / day
Article
1151 Ithaka, provisional designation 1929 RK, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in 1929, and later named for the Greek island of Ithaca.
Discovery