Takes Two Antenna Galaxies to Tangle
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 4038 • NGC 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
