Arp 244

This so-called “antenna galaxy” was included by Halton Arp in his catalog of “peculiar galaxies”.

Arp 244 is one of the many galaxies discovered in the 18th century by the German-British astronomer and musician Wilhelm (William) Herschel, a true galaxy hunter.

It consists of the two galaxies NGC4038 and NGC4039, which pass through each other. To be precise, it is not the planets of the two galaxies that collide, but their large clouds of dust and gas. Here we also find star
development processes that are currently underway. This process takes some time; it is estimated here that it is an event that takes around 1,000,000,000 years.

The beautiful and clearly visible antennas of this galaxy consist of matter and new star clusters that have been flung far away by gravitational tidal phenomena and now form these special,
striking arcs.

Incidentally, we are also about to have such an encounter. Our Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy are currently on a collision course and are approaching each other at a speed of several thousand kilometers per second, a speed we can hardly imagine. Nevertheless, it will still take some time for the two to find each other: The rendezvous will still be a few billion years away.

This photo was published as the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” by NASA.

Coordinates:
RA: 12h 01m 53s
DC: -18° 52′ 35″

Exposure time:
82 hours

Award:
NASA (APOD)