NGCs 4038/4039 are an interesting pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation of Corvus the Crow. The many bright knots in the images of the two galaxies are regions of intense star formation that was triggered by the tidal effect of the collision of these two galaxies. This pair of galaxies lies 62 million light years from Earth. This pair are known as the Antennae Galaxies or The Ringtail Galaxy, and are also known as Arp 244.
This pair of galaxies was discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1785.
This image, captured in May of 2006, is one of my earliest CCD images of galaxies. It is a series of thirty 100 second UNGUIDED exposures through the ORION ED80 80mm f/7.5 APO refractor using the ORION Starshoot uncooled CCD camera. Captured and combined using Maxim DL Essentials. Post processed using Photoshop, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.