![]() The telescope’s mid-infrared instrument (MIRI), which operates over a wavelength range of 5 to 28 microns, also revealed new insights about the Cartwheel Galaxy. The camera can also see through cosmic dust, which tends to hide young stars. The camera operates over the near-infrared wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 microns, uncovering details beyond what’s observable in visible light. Webb was able to capture the dramatic image because it contains a near-infrared camera (NIRCam). The inner core is made up of hot dust and gigantic young star clusters. The outer ring has been expanding for about 440 million years and, as it barrels outward, it smashes into the surrounding gas, which triggers star formation, per NASA. Ring galaxies like the Cartwheel are less common than spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. The Cartwheel is called a ring galaxy because it has two rings-a colorful outer ring and a bright inner ring-that expand out from its center “like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it,” per NASA. The composite photo, which NASA and the European Space Agency shared this week, shows the large, pinkish-red Cartwheel Galaxy and two smaller galaxies set against an inky-black backdrop brimming with smaller galaxies and stars.Ĭourtesy of NASA-GSFC, Adriana M. The telescope captured a striking photo of the rare ring galaxy and, in the process, unveiled new details about its central black hole and star formation. ![]() Now, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have a much clearer view. But space dust has made it difficult for optical telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of the celestial body. Scientists have long been fascinated by the Cartwheel Galaxy, located in the Sculptor constellation about 500 million light-years away. That nearly head-on crash forever changed the then-spiral-shaped galaxy, giving it a new shape and structure resembling a wagon wheel. Several hundred million years ago, astronomers believe the Cartwheel Galaxy collided with another smaller galaxy.
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