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
- E. Bowell
- Discovery site
- Anderson Mesa Stn.
- Discovery date
- 3 May 1981
- Pronunciation
- / m ə ˈ z ɜːr s k i /
- Named after
- Harold Masursky , (American planetary geologist )
- Alternative designations
- 1981 JN · 1950 VO, 1973 QF · 1975 XJ 5 , 1977 KU
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Eunomia
- Observation arc
- 44.58 yr (16,282 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.8522 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.2874 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.5698 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.12 yr (1,505 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Harold Masursky
- Followed by
- Q920427
- Follows
- Q682722
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +10.744
- Orbital period
- +1503.92441481436
- Image
- Asteroid 2685Masurky.png
Show 3 more facts
Article
2685 Masursky, provisional designation 1981 JN, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 3 May 1981, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, and named after American planetary geologist Harold Masursky. In January 2000, the Cassini space probe observed the S-type asteroid from afar during its coast to Saturn.
Orbit and classification