NASA and the European Space Agency said on Tuesday that the Webb Space Telescope, peering through time and massive amounts of dust, has captured new images of the Cartwheel Galaxy, capturing the colorful, spinning outer ring with unprecedented clarity. Located in the constellation Sculpture some 500 million light-years from Earth, the Wheel Galaxy was formed when two galaxies collided spectacularly.
The two rings of the Wheel Galaxy expand from the center, “like throwing stones at a pond, spreading out in ripples.” The smaller white ring is still close to the center of the Wheel galaxy, and the colorful outer ring has expanded into the universe for about 444 million years. The outer ring encounters gas as it expands, prompting new star formation. Behind the Wheel Galaxy, two smaller galaxies shine brightly, and more galaxies can be seen behind them. The Wheel Galaxy is still in a “phase of rapid change”.
Design Picture
The Webb Space Telescope offers a glimpse into the current stage of the Wheel Galaxy, as well as an understanding of what happened in the past and how it will evolve in the future. The Webb Space Telescope, which launched last December, released its first images to the world last month.
Wheel Galaxy.