| Antennae galaxies | |
|---|---|
 NGC 4038 (left) and NGC 4039 (right) | |
| Observation data (J2000epoch) | |
| Constellation | Corvus[1] |
| Right ascension | 12h 01m 53.0s / 12h 01m 53.6s[2] |
| Declination | −18° 52′ 10″ / −18° 53′ 11″[2] |
| Redshift | 1642 ± 12 / 1641 ± 9 km/s[2] |
| Distance | 45Mly / 65Mly |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 11.2 / 11.1[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | SB(s)m pec / SA(s)m pec[2] |
| Apparent size (V) | 5′.2× 3′.1 / 3′.1× 1′.6[2] |
| Notable features | Interacting galaxies |
| Other designations | |
| Ringtail Galaxy,[2]NGC 4038 / 4039,[2] PGC 37967 / 37969,Arp 244,[2]Caldwell 60/61 | |
| See also:Galaxy,List of galaxies | |
TheAntennae galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039) are two colliding galaxies.[3] They are in theconstellationCorvus. The process takes hundreds of millions of years, maybe even a billion years.
The collision, with its clouds of gas, dust andmagnetic fields, causes extremely rapidstar formation. This is theirstarburst phase, and might last a few hundred million years. They were discovered byWilliam Herschel in 1785.[4]
They are in theNGC 4038 group with five other galaxies. Before The Collision, NGC 4038 was a barredspiral galaxy and NGC 4039 was a spiral galaxy. These two galaxies are known as the Antennae galaxies because they have two long tails ofstars,gas and dust ejected from the galaxies as a result oftidal force in the collision that look like an insect’s antennae. Thenuclei of the two galaxies are joining to become one giantgalaxy, sometime in the future to form anElliptical galaxy.
These interacting galaxies are nearer and less remote to theMilky Way than previously thought—at 45 million light-years instead of 65 million light-years.[5]
