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
- Savonlinna , (Finnish town)
- Alternative designations
- 1939 SC · 1930 SE
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle )
- Observation arc
- 86.61 yr (31,635 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4104 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9885 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6995 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.44 yr (1,620 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 235.57 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 19.92 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Savonlinna
- Followed by
- Q140434
- Follows
- Q140419
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +12.233
- Orbital period
- +1615.65371253268
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- Yrjö Väisälä
- P65
Article
1525 Savonlinna (provisional designation 1939 SC) is an asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 September 1939, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Turku Observatory in southwestern Finland. It was later named after the eastern Finnish town Savonlinna.
Orbit and classification