A stunning image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope has given us the clearest look yet at the Cartwheel Galaxy.
NASA released the image of the distant galaxy, named for its resemblance to a cartwheel, on Tuesday. The Cartwheel galaxy is about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor, the agency said in a press release.
An image of the distant Cartwheel galaxy, located about 500 million light-years away in the constellation of the Sculptor. It was taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team
The image shows the Cartwheel Galaxy next to two “smaller companion galaxies, with a backdrop of many other galaxies.” The image reveals that the Cartwheel Galaxy has a bright inner ring and a colorful ring around it, the result of a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy, NASA said.
According to NASA, the right inner ring of the galaxy contains an enormous amount of hot dust, with the brightest areas containing clusters of gigantic young stars. The outer ring has expanded from the collision center over about 440 million years. When it expands and hits the surrounding gas, stars form.
The Cartwheel Galaxy, whose rings expand outward from the collision center, is classified as a “ring galaxy”, which are rarer than spiral galaxies like our Milky Way , NASA said.
This image of the Cartwheel and its companion galaxies is a composite of Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), revealing details that are difficult to see in individual images alone . IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team
NASA had tried to get a clear look at the elusive galaxy, including using the Hubble Space Telescope, but was unable to do so due to the amount of dust obscuring the view. However, the advanced Webb Space Telescope, whose Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) can detect infrared light, has clearly captured the young stars forming in the galaxy’s outer ring.
The image has also provided insight into what happened to the Cartwheel Galaxy in the past and how it is likely to evolve in the future. The galaxy, which was “presumably a normal galaxy like the Milky Way before its collision,” is currently in a transitory stage and will continue to transform, NASA said.
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