The
Antennae Galaxies are the closest known merging galaxies, seen here entwining
their long tails like the antennae of an insect.
The
galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 began their slow dance a few hundred million
years ago to create the merging system. Astronomers formerly believed it to be
some 65 million light-years away, but new research from the Advanced Camera for
Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxies to be just 45
million light-years away. By comparison, our sun is only eight light-minutes
away, and some galaxies are more than ten billion light-years away.
Studying
the Antennae Galaxies has provided astronomers with a treasure trove of
observational data that can feed theoretical model predictions of galaxy
mergers. The tails formed from material thrown off the main galaxies as they
collided, giving a preview of what may happen when our own Milky Way galaxy collides
with neighboring Andromeda in several billion years.
— NASA/ESA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Robert Gendler
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