Antennae Galaxies - Misplaced Pages

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v t e Galaxies
Morphology	Disc Lenticular barred unbarred Spiral anemic barred flocculent grand design intermediate Magellanic unbarred Dwarf galaxy elliptical irregular spheroidal spiral Elliptical galaxy cD Irregular barred Peculiar Ring Polar
Structure	Active galactic nucleus Bar Bulge Central massive object Galactic Center Dark matter halo Disc Disc galaxy Halo corona Galactic plane Galactic ridge Interstellar medium Protogalaxy Galaxy filament Spiral arm Supermassive black hole Ultramassive
Active nuclei	Blazar LINER Markarian Quasar BL Lacertae object Radio X-shaped DRAGN Relativistic jet Seyfert
Energetic galaxies	Lyman-alpha emitter Lyman-break Luminous infrared ULIRG HLIRG ELIRG Starburst blue compact dwarf pea faint blue Luminous infrared galaxy Hot dust-obscured Green bean galaxy Hanny's Voorwerp Wolf-Rayet galaxy
Low activity	Low surface brightness Ultra diffuse Dark galaxy Red nugget Blue Nugget Dead disk
Interaction	Field Galactic tide Groups and clusters group cluster Brightest cluster galaxy fossil group Interacting merger collision cannibalism Jellyfish Satellite Stellar stream Superclusters Walls Voids and supervoids void galaxy
Lists	Galaxies Galaxies named after people Largest Nearest Polar-ring Ring Spiral Groups and clusters Large quasar groups Quasars List of the most distant astronomical objects Starburst galaxies Superclusters Voids
See also	Extragalactic astronomy Galactic astronomy Galactic coordinate system Galactic habitable zone Galactic magnetic fields Galactic orientation Galactic quadrant Galaxy color–magnitude diagram Galaxy formation and evolution Galaxy rotation curve Gravitational lens Gravitational microlensing Illustris project Intergalactic dust Intergalactic stars Intergalactic travel Population III stars Galaxy X (galaxy)
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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.

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