The galaxy below it glows blueish, but its nucleus and spiral structure are apparent, and we are looking at it face-on. Its shape is less recognizable as a spiral it looks like a chaotic oval smattering of dots. The top galaxy appears to be constructed of the same yellow, pink, & blue speckles as the larger galaxy’s outer ring, with a similar light blue core. The smaller galaxies on the left look very different from each other. The bottom right edge is marked by a large 8-pointed star. The outer edges of the wheel are faint dots of yellow, pink and blue, with some gaps in between. It resembles a ghostly wheel with diffuse blue-white spokes revolving around a glowing core. However, this snapshot provides perspective on what happened to the galaxy in the past and what it will do in the future.Ī large galaxy on the right, with two smaller companion galaxies to the left 10 o’clock & 9 o’clock. The form that the Cartwheel Galaxy will eventually take, given these two competing forces, is still a mystery. Webb’s observations capture the Cartwheel in a very transitory stage. NIRCam also defines the difference between the older star populations and dense dust in the core and the younger star populations outside of it.

In this near-infrared image, NIRCam data are colored blue, orange, and yellow.

However, despite the impact, much of the character of the large, spiral galaxy that existed before the collision remains, including its rotating arms. Both rings expand outward from the center of the collision like shockwaves. The Cartwheel is composed of two rings, a bright inner ring and a colorful outer ring. This galaxy formed as the result of a high-speed collision that occurred about 400 million years ago. This image of the Cartwheel and its companion galaxies is from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

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