NGC 4038 - 4039 (Arp 244), the ring-tail galaxy
Below is an image of NGC 4038 and 4039 in the constellation Corvus. This interesting pair of galaxies which are believed to be a colliding. NGC 4038 to the north or top in the image contains several dark patches. No sign of the the “antennae” that Hubble images show — I guess I need a bit more aperature! Hubblesite.org has discussion and images of star forming regions resulting from the collision.
Below image taken between 11:20 MDT and 11:40 MDT last evening, April 19, 2006 with a Celestron Nexstar11 telescope mounted on APT wedge, a Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and an Astrovid Stellacam2. Temperature was 43°F, no wind, transparency was very good, and turbulence was 5/10.
