The Antennae Galaxies are among the closest known merging galaxies. The two galaxies, catalogued as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, began interacting a few hun
The Antennae Galaxies are among the closest known merging galaxies. The two galaxies, catalogued as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, began interacting a few hundred million years ago, creating one of the most impressive sights in the night sky. They are considered as the archetypal merging galaxy system. They are named for the two long tails of stars, gas and dust that resemble the antennae of an insect. These antennae are a physical result of the collision between the two galaxies. Studying their properties gives us a preview of what may happen when our Milky Way galaxy collides with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy in several billion years. The Antennae are located in the constellation of Corvus, the Crow. Their distance has been recently measured in 45 million light-years. This image was created from photographic material taken with the Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory, forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
Size: 5866px × 5959px
Photo credit: © DAVIDE DE MARTIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: 4038, 4039, antennae, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, camera, corvus, dust, evolution, galaxies, galaxy, interacting, merging, ngc, observatory, oschin, palomar, schmidt, space, star, telescope
