Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Corvus (Crv)  ·  Contains:  Antennae  ·  Antennae Galaxies  ·  HD104456  ·  HD104496  ·  HD104608  ·  NGC 4038  ·  NGC 4039
Antennae Galaxies NGC4038 & NGC4039, Mathieu Guinot
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Antennae Galaxies NGC4038 & NGC4039

Antennae Galaxies NGC4038 & NGC4039, Mathieu Guinot
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Antennae Galaxies NGC4038 & NGC4039

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Description

The Antennae Galaxies (also known as NGC 4038/NGC 4039 or Caldwell 60/Caldwell 61) are a pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Corvus. They are currently going through a starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation.
Located in the NGC4038 group with five other galaxies, these two galaxies are known as the Antennae Galaxies because the two long tails of stars, gas and dust ejected from the galaxies as a result of the collision look like an insect's antennae.
The nuclei of the two galaxies are joining to become one giant galaxy. Most galaxies probably undergo at least one significant collision in their lifetimes. This is likely the future of our Milky way when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy. 

About 1.2 billion years ago : the Antennae were two separate galaxies. NGC 4038 was a barred spiral galaxy and NGC 4039 was a spiral galaxy.
900 million years ago :  the Antennae began to approach one another,
600 million years ago : the Antennae passed through each other,
300 million years ago : the Antennae's stars began to be released from both galaxies.
Today : the two streamers of ejected stars extend far beyond the original galaxies, resulting in the antennae shape.
Within 400 million years : the Antennae's nuclei will collide and become a single core with stars, gas, and dust around it. Observations and simulations of colliding galaxies suggest that the Antennae Galaxies will eventually form an elliptical galaxy.

Data : Telescope Live
Acquisitions from ​​​​​2020/04/20 to 2021/07/27 at El Sauce observatory, Chile.

I hope one day to be able to shoot this mythical object myself, but was happy to process it with this little but nice data set.

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Antennae Galaxies NGC4038 & NGC4039, Mathieu Guinot