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
- L. Oterma
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 23 March 1939
- Named after
- Lappeenranta , (Finnish city)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 FM
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , background
- Observation arc
- 78.15 yr (28,544 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.7784 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0207 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3995 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.72 yr (1,358 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 67.942 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 15 54.72 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lappeenranta
- Followed by
- Q140197
- Follows
- Q140177
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +11.336
- Orbital period
- +1358.388726780707
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Liisi Oterma
- P65
Article
1504 Lappeenranta (provisional designation 1939 FM) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1939, by Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory, and named after the city of Lappeenranta in Finland.
Orbit and classification