Antennae Galaxies in Corvus - NGC4038 / NGC4039

These are the interacting galaxies NGC4038 and NGC4039, in the Corvus constellation. Their nickname come from the similarities with an insect antennae.

These galaxies (with an estimated distance from Earth between 45 and 65 million light years) are colliding and will give as result a new elliptical galaxy (because of the central parts fusion) and some minor satellite galaxies (built from the dust, gas and stars shown in the long and subtle “antennae”).
The bluish zones are the sites where a larger quantity of new stars is being produced by the gas and dust collision (shown in reddish and brown colors).

The used focal is not the best to show the details of this object, but on the other hand the “wide field” displays many very interesting objects on the background, showing more than a couple of dozens of other galaxies.

"Wide" field

Annotated image:

At the right bottom appear the NGC4027 and NGC4027A galaxies, interesting because the asymmetry of the first one (spiral galaxy with only one arm, probably due to a former galactic fusion) and very irregular the second one (triangle shape).

NGC4027 and NGC4027A detail:

Up and left appear other two interacting galaxies (PGC38199 and PGC38200).

PGC38199 and PGC38200 detail:

Technical Data

Acquisition site	Travesía, Córdoba, Argentina (950 m a.s.l)
Acquisition date	2-8-2016 2-10-2016
Instrument	Newton GSO F4 200 with GPU coma corrector.
Mount	Sky-Watcher NEQ6, managed by EQmod
Guide	Off-Axis, with Lodestar camera
Camera	Modified Canon 600D/T3i No IR Filter (Full Spectrum mod, using Astronomik MC Clear) Refrigerated (regulated temperature)
Camera sensor temperature	0°C (on-sensor measured and regulated)
Filter	Astronomik Clip CLS CCD
Integration	31 x 10 minutes subframes - ISO 800 Total integration time: 5 hs 10 minutes
Calibration	49 flats, 400 bias, 81 darks.
Resolution	1.1 arcsec/pixel 787 mm actual focal, 4.2 um x 4.2 um pixels
Native size	5202 x 3465 pixels
Cropped size	4603 x 3312 pixels
FOV	1° 24' x 1°
Image center coordinates	RA: 12h 01m 47s Dec: -18° 52' 05.91" Rotation: 3°
Process	PixInsight 1.8