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
- J. Comas Solà
- Discovery site
- Barcelona
- Discovery date
- 3 February 1921
- Alternative designations
- 1921 JB
- Observation arc
- 92.54 yr (33802 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.0656 AU (458.61 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.2037 AU (329.67 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6347 AU (394.15 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.28 yr (1562.0 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 115.327 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 13 49.692 / day
- Inclination
- 32.896°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 318.298°
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Barcelona
- Followed by
- 946 Poësia
- Follows
- 944 Hidalgo
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +25.618
- Orbital period
- +1565.29192979279
- Image
- 945 Barcelona orbit on 01 Jan 2009.png
Show 4 more facts
Article
945 Barcelona is a minor planet orbiting the Sun in the Asteroid belt. It was discovered 3 February 1921 from Barcelona by the Catalan astronomer Josep Comas i Solà (1868–1937) and named for the city of Barcelona (Spain), the birthplace of the discoverer. It has an estimated diameter of 25.5 km.
This object is the namesake of a Barcelona family of approximately 300 stony asteroids that share similar spectral properties and orbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively high orbital inclination.