New image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals details of the Cartwheel Galaxy
The researchers think it looks a bit like a cartwheel because it was formed by “an intense event: a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not seen in this image.”
The James Webb Space Telescope captured a new image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, along with two smaller companion galaxies, which was created as a result of an intergalactic collision.
The orbiting observatory launched last December and recently released a whole set of new observations, including what is said to be the “deepest” and most detailed image of the cosmos to date.
The researchers think it looks a bit like a cartwheel because it was formed by “an intense event: a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not seen in this image.”
They add: “Collisions of galactic proportions trigger a cascade of different, smaller events between the galaxies involved; Cartwheel is no exception.”
Its unusual shape features two obvious rings, a bright inner one and a colorful outer ring.
It is these distinctive features which have led astronomers to define the Cartwheel Galaxy as a ring galaxy, one of the rarest galactic structures that we see from Earth.
The bright core of the galaxy – the hub of the wheel – “contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters” according to NASA.
“On the other hand, the outer ring, which has expanded for about 440 million years, is dominated by star formation and supernovas. As this ring expands, it ploughs into surrounding gas and triggers star formation.”
