Antennae Galaxies

NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, Caldwell 60/61 · Galaxy in Corvus

Magnitude: 10.3
Size: 5′ × 3′
Effective surface brightness: 21.9 mag/arcsec²
Best months: Mar, Apr, May
Declination: -19°
Filter: None (broadband target)

Two colliding galaxies with long tidal tails. The cores are reachable; the antennae themselves are a dark-sky, long-integration task.

Reachable from mid-northern latitudes (UK, northern US, central Europe) and from the south.

How long with each smart telescope

Total integration for a solid image of the Antennae Galaxies, default sub length, recommended filter, and how much of each frame it fills. Click a cell for the full Bortle 1 to 9 table.
Telescope	In frame	Bortle 3 (rural)	Bortle 5 (suburban)	Bortle 7 (urban edge)
ZWO Seestar S5010 s subs	12%	48 min290 subs	1 h 17 min461 subs	3 h 21 min1,209 subs
ZWO Seestar S50 Pro10 s subs	6%	54 min323 subs	1 h 25 min508 subs	3 h 39 min1,316 subs
ZWO Seestar S3010 s subs	7%	54 min326 subs	1 h 23 min497 subs	3 h 27 min1,245 subs
ZWO Seestar S30 Pro10 s subs	4%	57 min345 subs	1 h 30 min540 subs	3 h 52 min1,391 subs
DwarfLab DWARF 315 s subs	5%	1 h 04 min256 subs	1 h 48 min432 subs	5 h1,202 subs
DwarfLab DWARF mini15 s subs	7%	48 min192 subs	1 h 16 min306 subs	3 h 21 min804 subs
DwarfLab Draco30 s subs	7%	39 min78 subs	1 h 03 min126 subs	2 h 46 min333 subs
DwarfLab DWARF II15 s subs	5%	3 h 29 min838 subs	4 h 48 min1,154 subs	11 h2,539 subs
Vaonis Vespera II10 s subs	6%	48 min290 subs	1 h 17 min461 subs	3 h 21 min1,209 subs
Vaonis Vespera Pro10 s subs	5%	1 h 57 min705 subs	2 h 57 min1,065 subs	7 h 19 min2,637 subs
Vaonis Vespera 310 s subs	6%	46 min275 subs	1 h 13 min440 subs	3 h 13 min1,158 subs
Vaonis Vespera Pro 210 s subs	5%	1 h 51 min666 subs	2 h 49 min1,012 subs	7 h2,522 subs
Unistellar eQuinox 24 s subs	15%	1 h 03 min948 subs	1 h 21 min1,215 subs	2 h 39 min2,380 subs
Unistellar Odyssey4 s subs	15%	5 h 34 min5,014 subs	6 h 39 min5,984 subs	11 h10,224 subs
Celestron Origin10 s subs	10%	11 min69 subs	20 min118 subs	55 min330 subs
Celestron Origin Mark II10 s subs	11%	14 min87 subs	26 min157 subs	1 h 17 min462 subs

Open in the calculator

Imaging the galaxy

Galaxies are broadband targets: their light is mostly starlight spread across the spectrum, so a dual-band filter throws most of it away and makes things slower, not faster. Shoot without a filter (or with a plain UV/IR cut) and rely on total time and a dark sky. The core of a galaxy is usually many times brighter than its outer disc, so a short stack shows the nucleus long before the arms; the figures here are for the arms and disc, not the core.

Field rotation in Alt-Az mode crops the edges of the stack over a long session, so on a big galaxy re-centre now and then or use EQ mode where your scope supports it.

Antennae Galaxies

How long with each smart telescope

Imaging the galaxy

Per-telescope pages