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
- O. Struve
- Discovery site
- Williams Bay
- Discovery date
- 24 October 1922
- Alternative designations
- 1922 NB, 1949 PF, 1950 WG, 1953 GT1, 1975 EE6
- Observation arc
- 80.10 yr (29255 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.6381 AU (544.25 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.6458 AU (395.81 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.1419 AU (470.02 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.57 yr (2034.2 d )
- Mean anomaly
- 351.48 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 37.092 / day
- Inclination
- 2.0696°
- Longitude of ascending node
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- McDonald Observatory
- Followed by
- Q158499
- Follows
- 990 Yerkes
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +38.556
- Orbital period
- +2027.963050123615
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Otto Struve
- P65
Article
991 McDonalda is a Themistian asteroid. It was discovered by Otto Struve in 1922 at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. It is named after the McDonald Observatory, which Struve helped found in 1939.
References