Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Corvus (Crv)  ·  Contains:  Antennae  ·  NGC 4038  ·  NGC 4039
Antennae Galaxies, Geoff
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Antennae Galaxies

Antennae Galaxies, Geoff
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Antennae Galaxies

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The Antennae Galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 are two galaxies in collision and will eventually become one giant galaxy. The Antennae were two separate galaxies about 1.2 billion years ago: NGC 4038 was a barred spiral galaxy and NGC 4039 was a spiral galaxy. About 900 million years ago, the Antennae began to approach one another and about 600 million years ago, the Antennae passed through each other. The stars in the two galaxies were ejected in long streams about 300 million years ago resulting in the characteristic antennae shape we see today.

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