Galaxies in Corvus
This is a well-known pair of interacting galaxies. Through amateur telescopes, the two galaxies can appear as a single irregular shape with a notch in the center, or as two lobes with the northern one (NGC 4038) substantially brighter.
A result of the gravittional interactions between these galaxies is that two long curved streams of stars have been ejected, which give rise to the nickname Antennae Galaxies. These streams are very large (several times longer than the galaxies themselves) but faint, and I have not found any reports of visual sightings, even with large scopes. They show up only in long-duration images.
This pair is also known as the Ring-Tail Galaxy.
| Magnitude | 10.3, 11.0 |
| Apparent Size | 5.4' x 2.8' |
| Distance (light yrs) | 43 million |
| Right Ascension | 12:021.9 |
| Declination | -18 53 |
| Field of View | 31' x 23' |
Image details: Exposure times of 132 minutes luminance and 14 minutes each of red, green, and blue, taken with an SBIG STF-8300M imager and a 14" Meade LX850 telescope at f/5.5.
April 2023