NGC4038 and 4039 The Antennae Galaxy
This unusual pair of galaxies are involved in a galactic "slow-dance" collision. The gravitational forces upon the two has initiated a huge area of Ha emission where star formation is now occurring; the red area in the middle of the two. Faintly visible in the image are two long-trailing galaxy arms which have been slung out far away from the galaxy centers. The pair are located in the constellation Corvus.
This image is a composite of two 60 minute exposures on hypered Kodak PJ 400 film. They were taken with my 12.5" f/7 Newtonian. The image has been cropped from a much larger original image.