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The Antennae Galaxies – The Universe as a Dance Floor

Around 45 million light-years away, the two galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 appear to be dancing together. Through gravity, they influence each other, pulling one another closer, revolving around each other, and distorting their original shapes.

From this encounter, the long, sweeping tidal tails emerge, stretching far out into space. They resemble the feelers of an antenna – giving these two galaxies their name: the Antennae Galaxies.

But this dance is anything but gentle. Gas and dust are compressed, new stars are being born, and the structures of both galaxies are being dramatically disrupted.

The moment captured in this image is actually 45 million years old. That is how long the light has taken to reach us. We don’t know what the Antennae Galaxies actually look like today – perhaps they have long since moved on to an entirely different dance.

I initially processed the image data in Siril. I then used BlurXTerminator to sharpen the image and NoiseXTerminator to reduce noise. I processed the stars and galaxies separately, using VeraLux Curves among other tools, and finally brought everything back together in Affinity Photo.

This is the result. I hope you like it.

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