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
- 18 November 1938
- Named after
- Kokkola (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1938 WO · 1949 WB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Vestoid
- Observation arc
- 77.72 yr (28,389 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.5398 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.1955 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.3677 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.64 yr (1,331 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 196.45 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 16 13.8 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Kokkola
- Followed by
- 1523 Pieksämäki
- Follows
- 1521 Seinäjoki
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +9.422
- Orbital period
- +1330.922258546144
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Liisi Oterma
- P65
Article
1522 Kokkola (provisional designation 1938 WO) is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 November 1938, by pioneering Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland. It was later named for the town of Kokkola.
Classification and orbit