This pair of colliding galaxies is one of the most spectacular examples in the sky of this class. Located at a distance of 60 million light years, sprays of stellar material extends beyond the boundaries of the 10 arcminute field. The upper galaxy, NGC4038 contains a very yellow nucleus in its core, and hordes of hydrogen clouds and stellar associations in what is left of spiral arms. It is 10.9 magnitude, and 3.7 arcmins long. It is classed as SBS9P, a peculiar spiral indeed. The lower galaxy, which is very spread out is NGC4039. Roughly 11.1 magnitude, its yellow glow are old stars, with the remains of spiral arms barely seen. It is 4 arcmins in length. Other names for this group includes the "Ringtail Galaxy" and the " Antenna".

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST7E w/Enhanced Cooling
Exposure:  LRGB = 60:20:20:36 (RGB Binned 2x2)
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FMHW = 2.5 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  10 C
CCD Temperature:  -25 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.