Ground-based telescope view (left) of the collision between the galaxies NGC4038 and NGC4039, which reveals long arcing insect-like ‘antennae’ of luminous matter flung from the scene of the accident. Investigations using the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed over a thousand bright young clusters of stars – the result of a burst of star
formation triggerd by the collision. The green outline shows the area covered by the higher resolution Hubble image (right). Dust clouds around the two galactic nuclei give them a dimmed and reddened appearance, while the massive, hot young stars of the new formed clusters are blue.