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Credit & Copyright: Acquisition and data reduction -
Andrey Oreshko (Elena Remote Observatory),
Processing - Dietmar Hager (stargazer-observatory)
Explanation:
Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly
constellation
Corvus, two large galaxies
collided.
But the stars in the two galaxies, cataloged as
NGC 4038
and NGC 4039, don't collide in the course of the
ponderous event,
lasting hundreds of millions of years.
Instead, their large clouds of
molecular
gas and dust do, triggering furious
episodes of star formation near the center of the
cosmic wreckage.
Spanning about 500 thousand light-years,
this
stunning view also reveals new star clusters and
matter flung far from the scene
of the accident by
gravitational
tidal forces.
Of course,
the suggestive visual appearance of the extended arcing structures
gives the galaxy pair its popular name - The Antennae.
Processing - Dietmar Hager (stargazer-observatory)
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 4038 - NGC 4039 - galactic collision - interacting galaxies
Publications with words: NGC 4038 - NGC 4039 - galactic collision - interacting galaxies
See also:
- APOD: 2024 February 20 Á AM1054: Stars Form as Galaxies Collide
- APOD: 2024 February 7 Á The Heart Shaped Antennae Galaxies
- APOD: 2023 October 24 Á Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble
- Galaxies in the River
- Giant Galaxies in Pavo
- Unraveling NGC 3169
- APOD: 2023 February 23 Arp 78: Peculiar Galaxy in Aries