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
- Y. Väisälä
- Discovery site
- Turku Obs.
- Discovery date
- 15 October 1938
- Named after
- Rovaniemi (Finnish city)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 UA · 1928 TL, 1951 SH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( inner ) , Flora
- Observation arc
- 88.74 yr (32,412 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.5449 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9053 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.2251 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.32 yr (1,212 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 246.56 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 17 49.2 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Rovaniemi
- Followed by
- Q140370
- Follows
- Q140353
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +8.48
- Orbital period
- +1212.768535124377
- Image
- 1518Rovaniemi (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Yrjö Väisälä
Article
1518 Rovaniemi (provisional designation 1938 UA) is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Yrjö Väisälä at the Turku Observatory in 1938, the asteroid was later named after the Finnish city of Rovaniemi.
Discovery