The strongly interacting (and probably merging) galaxy pair NGC 4038/9 in Corvus, best-known as the "Antennae" (the long tidal tails extend well beyond this field of view), shown in a three-color reconstruction from BVR CCD frames taken with the 2.1-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The color contrast highlights the blue knots of star formation in the distorted galaxy disks and the redder regions around the galaxy nuclei (showing some older stellar populations in the former bulges) and dust-reddened regions elsewhere (particularly near the large dust complex at the apparent interface between the two disks).
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