Arp 244 (NGC 4038 & 9, The Antennae)

  Arp 244 is in the class Appearance of Fission, but there is no Atlas note.  This is one of the classic pairs for showing the effect of galaxy mergers.  The extremely long tidal tails and the multitude of star-forming knots within the bodies of the main galaxies make this a real showpiece.  The northern galaxy is NGC 4038 and the southern is NGC 4039.  

About 3' W of NGC 4038 and 4' SSW of the brightest star, you can find a short, broken vertical line.  This is the track of asteroid Welzl (15425) on 5/8/08.  The breaks are times that passing clouds got so thick I either stopped or lost imaging.  My thanks to Chris Randall of the Johnson Space Center club for the identification.

The luminance for this image was acquired at my observatory with the 10-inch in 2008 and the chrominance was added using a Meade 2045D at the 2009 Texas Star Party.

Click on the color image for a full size view and on the negative image for a full size negative version.

Atlas Image

 
  10-inch Newtonian and Meade 2045D, SBIG ST2000XM, 56:40:30:30 minutes, 21.7' x 28.9'  
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