JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Stars and Galaxies
.

Webb Captures Stellar Gymnastics in the Cartwheel Galaxy

Aug. 2, 2022

This image of the Cartwheel Galaxy and its companion galaxies is a composite from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). MIRI data is colored red while NIRCam data is colored blue, orange, and yellow.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

The space telescope’s powerful infrared gaze provides a new view of how the galaxy has changed over billions of years.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has peered into the chaos of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing new details about star formation and the galaxy’s central black hole. Webb’s powerful infrared gaze produced this detailed image of the Cartwheel and two smaller companion galaxies against a backdrop of many other galaxies. This image provides a new view of how the Cartwheel Galaxy has changed over billions of years.

The Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light-years away in the Sculptor constellation, is a rare sight. Its appearance, much like that of the wheel of a wagon, is the result of an intense event – a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not visible in this image. Collisions of galactic proportions cause a cascade of different, smaller events between the galaxies involved; the Cartwheel is no exception.

This image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows a group of galaxies, including a large, distorted ring-shaped galaxy, known as the Cartwheel, that is composed of a bright inner ring and an active outer ring. While this outer ring has a lot of star formation, the dusty area in between reveals many stars and star clusters.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

The collision most notably affected the galaxy’s shape and structure. The Cartwheel Galaxy sports two rings – a bright inner ring and a surrounding, colorful ring. These two rings expand outwards from the center of the collision, like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it. Because of these distinctive features, astronomers call this a “ring galaxy,” a structure less common than spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.

The bright core contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters. 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 plows into surrounding gas and triggers star formation.

Other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, have previously examined the Cartwheel. But the dramatic galaxy has been shrouded in mystery – perhaps literally, given the amount of dust that obscures the view. Webb, with its ability to detect infrared light, now uncovers new insights into the nature of the Cartwheel.

Get the Latest JPL News

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Webb’s primary imager, looks in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, seeing crucial wavelengths of light that can reveal even more stars than observed in visible light. This is because young stars, many of which are forming in the outer ring, are less obscured by the presence of dust when observed in infrared light. In this image, NIRCam data is colored blue, orange, and yellow. The galaxy displays many individual blue dots, which are individual stars or pockets of star formation. NIRCam also reveals the difference between the smooth distribution or shape of the older star populations and dense dust in the core compared to the clumpy shapes associated with the younger star populations outside of it.

Learning finer details about the dust that inhabits the galaxy, however, requires Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). MIRI data is colored red in this composite image. It reveals regions within the Cartwheel Galaxy rich in hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds, as well as silicate dust, like much of the dust on Earth. These regions form a series of spiraling spokes that essentially form the galaxy’s skeleton. These spokes are evident in previous Hubble observations released in 2018, but they become much more prominent in this Webb image.

Webb’s observations underscore that the Cartwheel is in a very transitory stage. The galaxy, which was presumably a normal spiral galaxy like the Milky Way before its collision, will continue to transform. While Webb gives us a snapshot of the current state of the Cartwheel, it also provides insight into what happened to this galaxy in the past and how it will evolve in the future.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

News Media Contact

Laura Betz

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

301-286-9030

laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Christine Pulliam

Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

410-338-4366

cpulliam@stsci.edu

2022-113

Related News

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Gets Unusually Close Glimpse of Black Hole Snacking on Star

Stars and Galaxies .

VP Harris, French President Get First Look at Galactic Get-Together

Stars and Galaxies .

Baby Star ‘Burps’ Tell Tales of Frantic Feeding, NASA Data Shows

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA, ESA Reveal Tale of Death, Dust in Orion Constellation

Stars and Galaxies .

Haunting Portrait: NASA’s Webb Reveals Dust, Structure in Pillars of Creation

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Telescope Takes 12-Year Time-Lapse Movie of Entire Sky

Stars and Galaxies .

Star Duo Forms ‘Fingerprint’ in Space, NASA’s Webb Finds

Stars and Galaxies .

A Cosmic Tarantula, Caught by NASA’s Webb

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA’s Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide in Exoplanet Atmosphere

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Scientists Help Probe Dark Energy by Testing Gravity

Explore More

Mission .

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Video .

What's Up - January 2023

Video .

What's Up - December 2022

Video .

What's Up - November 2022

Video .

What's Up - October 2022

Video .

What's Up - September 2022

Video .

What's Up - August 2022

Mission .

SPHEREx

Video .

What's Up - July 2022

Mission .

ASTHROS

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018