Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 March 31 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Exploring the Antennae Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Dietmar Hager, [5]Eric Benson Explanation: Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly [6]constellation Corvus, two large galaxies are colliding. Stars in the two galaxies, cataloged as [7]NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, very rarely collide in the course of the ponderous cataclysm that lasts for hundreds of millions of years. But the galaxies' large [8]clouds of molecular gas and dust often do, triggering [9]furious episodes of star formation near the center of the [10]cosmic wreckage. Spanning over 500 thousand light-years, this stunning view also reveals new star clusters and matter flung far from the scene of the accident by [11]gravitational tidal forces. The [12]remarkably sharp ground-based image, an accumulation of 88 hours of exposure captured during 2012-2021, follows the faint tidal tails and distant background galaxies in the field of view. The suggestive overall visual appearance of the extended arcing structures gives the galaxy pair, also known as Arp 244, its popular name - The Antennae. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/Arp244-LRGB.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.facebook.com/StargazerObservatory/ 5. http://www.faintgalaxy.com/ 6. http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/crv/index.html 7. http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n4038-9.html 8. https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.05240 9. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2006/46/1995-Image.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120604.html 11. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/t/Tidal+Tails 12. https://www.facebook.com/StargazerObservatory/photos/1693801847493206/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220330.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220331 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220401.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/