NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

Composite image of the nearby merging galaxy, NGC 4038/9,also known as "The Antennae", due to the antennae-like morphology of its two prominant tidal tails. The image shows a true-color representation of the optical starlight, with the neutral atomic gas depicted in blue. This system is composed of two spiral galaxies which are in the process of slamming together, throwing off two long, narrow tidal streamers. The atomic hydrogen observations, obtained with the VLA, provide information on both the distribution of the gas (as shown), as well as its kinematics. The latter are useful for constraining numerical models of the encounter to help astronomers construct its past and future evolution.

Investigator(s):  J.E.Hibbard, J.M. van der Hulst, J.E. Barnes & R.M. Rich

Alternate Resolutions

Help

This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 450 x 468 color JPEG
• 900 x 937 color JPEG
• 2018 x 2100 color TIFF

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Read the Journal article
• Visit related website http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~jhibbard/n4038/n4038.html
• Up one level for more info on Peculiar galaxies
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	VLA
Date of Observation	1996-06-03
Type of Observation	Spectral Line Observations
Wavelength	21 cm
Frequency	1420.4 MHz
Species	HI
Center of Image	RA: 12:01:52.48, Dec: -18:52:2.90
Field of View	0.3000 x 0.3000 degrees
Technical Caption	Optical image obtained with the CTIO 0.9m telescope, and is a combination of CCD exposures taken in the Blue, Visible, and Red part of the spectrum. The VLA observations are a combination of C-array and D-array observations



Astronomical database entries for NGC4038
• Query NED for images of NGC4038
• Query SIMBAD for more NGC4038 data

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