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
- Joel Hastings Metcalf
- Discovery site
- Taunton, Massachusetts
- Discovery date
- 16 February 1906
- Pronunciation
- / t ɪ ˈ m æ n d r ə /
- Alternative designations
- 1906 TJ
- Observation arc
- 110.08 yr (40205 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9809 AU (445.94 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.0947 AU (313.36 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5378 AU (379.65 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.04 yr (1476.7 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 87.1291 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 14 37.644 / day
- Inclination
Article
603 Timandra is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on February 16, 1906, in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, during 2010 gave a light curve with a long rotation period of 41.79 ± 0.02 hours and a brightness variation of 0.10 ± 0.02 in magnitude.