The
Antennae Galaxies, also known as
NGC 4038/
NGC 4039, are a pair of
interacting galaxies in the
constellation Corvus. They are currently going through a
starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation. They were discovered by
William Herschel in 1785. These two spiral galaxies, drawn together by gravity, started to interact a few hundred million years ago. The Antennae Galaxies are the nearest and youngest examples of a pair of colliding galaxies.
Assembled from Hubble Legacy Archive data 3-28-2016