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
- 18 September 1939
- Named after
- Joensuu (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 SB · 1931 EL, 1933 QO · 1936 DG, 1958 DH 1
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 85.95 yr (31,395 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4881 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7300 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1090 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.48 yr (2,002 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 88.699 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Joensuu
- Followed by
- Q140426
- Follows
- 1523 Pieksämäki
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +45.056
- Orbital period
- +2004.157120495938
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Yrjö Väisälä
- P65
Article
1524 Joensuu (provisional designation 1939 SB) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 42 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 September 1939, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, and named for the town of Joensuu.
Classification and orbit