Misplaced Pages

Antennae Galaxies: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 12:25, 22 January 2006 editHurricane Devon (talk | contribs)4,670 editsmNo edit summary← Previous edit Revision as of 03:53, 24 January 2006 edit undoZzzzzzzzzzz (talk | contribs)1,773 editsNo edit summaryNext edit →
Line 47: Line 47:
] ]
] ]
]



] ]

Revision as of 03:53, 24 January 2006

Galaxies
Morphology
Structure
Active nuclei
Energetic galaxies
Low activity
Interaction
Lists
See also

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of galaxies (NGC 4038 + NGC 4039) undergoing a violent collision some 68 million ly. away in the constellation Corvus. They are placed in the Creater cloud and in the NGC 4038 group. The galaxies are known as the "Antennae Galaxies" because the two long tails of stars, gas, and dust thrown out of the galaxies as a result of the collision resemble the antenna of an insect. The nuclei of the two galaxies are joining to become one supergalaxy. 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 Andromeda.

NGC 4038

NGC 4038 lookes like it's the largest of the Antennae galaxies. Study has shown that today, and before it collided with NGC 4039, it's a spiral galaxy of the type SAc.

NGC 4039

NGC 4039 looks like the smallest of the Antennae galaxies. Study has shown that today, and before it collided with NGC 4038, it's a barred spiral galaxy of the type SBm.


Time line

  • 1.2 billion years ago: The Antennae Galaxies were two separate spiral galaxies.
  • 900 million years ago: The two galaxies began to smash into each other.
  • 600 million years ago: The galaxies became distorted as they extended around each other.
  • 300 million years ago: The galaxies stars began starting to be flung out of both galaxies.
  • Today: Two streamers of ejected stars extend far beyond the original galaxies.


External links


Stub icon

This galaxy-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: