Antenna Galaxies

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of interacting colliding galaxies located in the constellation Corvus. Together, they are among the closest and most studied examples of interacting galaxies, lying approximately 45 to 75 million light-years away from Earth.

NGC 4038 was originally a barred spiral galaxy, while its companion NGC 4039 was a larger spiral galaxy. Around 900 million years ago, the two began approaching each other, and they passed through each other about 600 million years ago, triggering a massive burst of star formation known as a starburst phase. This interaction has created long tidal tails of stars, gas, and dust resembling insect antennae, giving the system its popular name.

The two galactic nuclei are now merging and are expected to form a single elliptical galaxy within the next few hundred million years. Observations from Hubble and other telescopes have revealed over a thousand young, massive globular clustersformed during the collision.

Discovered by William Herschel on February 7, 1785, the system is also cataloged as Caldwell 60, Arp 244, and part of the NGC 4038 Group, which contains 13–27 galaxies.