Takes Two Antenna Galaxies to Tangle
Sig10 17

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/JPL-Caltech/STScI

Observation • August 5th, 2010 • sig10-017

sig10-017

A new image of two tangled galaxies has been released by NASA's Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like arms seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced in the collision.

About the Object

Name
NGC 4038NGC 4039
Distance
60,000,000 Light Years

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
Optical 435 nm HST WFC
Optical 550 nm HST WFC
Optical 814 nm HST WFC
X-ray 1.5 keV Chandra ACIS
Infrared 8.0 µm Spitzer IRAC

Astrometrics

Position (J2000)
RA =12h 1m 53.0s
Dec = -18° 52' 59.5"
Field of View
3.4 x 3.4 arcminutes
Orientation
North is 31.0° right of vertical