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. Inkeri
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 April 1937
- Named after
- Tuorla Observatory , (Inst. for Astronomy and Optics)
- Alternative designations
- 1937 GB · 1950 KC, 1950 LQ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 67.14 yr (24,522 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8766 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3483 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6125 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.22 yr (1,542 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 40.218 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Tuorla Observatory
- Followed by
- Q139054
- Follows
- Q139028
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +11.795
- Orbital period
- +1542.255209782945
Show 3 more facts
- P61
Article
1425 Tuorla, provisional designation 1937 GB, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 April 1937, by Finnish astronomer Kustaa Inkeri at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory in Turku, southwestern Finland. The asteroid was named after the Tuorla Observatory of the University of Turku. It was Kustaa Inkeri's only asteroid discovery.
Orbit and classification