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Ready to feel positively infinitesimal again?

Simply reading all the spacey words that NASA strings together is enough to wow me. Add in an image from the miraculous James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the mind does a few cartwheels, for sure.

Speaking of which, the JWST has peered into deep space again with its infrared gaze and discovered all the “stellar gymnastics in The Cartwheel Galaxy” as NASA puts it.

This spectacular galaxy formed when a large spiral galaxy and a smaller one collided, reported Engadget, forming two rings of hot dust and stars. This caused the rings to expand, like ripples in the water after a stone has been thrown in.

The outer ring has been expanding for about 440 million years – I know, my jaw dropped, too.

In the centre is a black hole, but that doesn’t mean that ‘life’ isn’t raging all around it.

The brightest areas host gigantic young star clusters, and the outer ring, meanwhile, features star formation and supernovas – which upon expanding and hitting surrounding gas, form stars.

Behold:

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

All the blue dots are individual stars or pockets of star formation.

The rare sight sits about 500 million light-years away in the Sculptor constellation, and Webb’s image of it provides a new view of how it has changed over billions of years:

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.

The Cartwheel Galaxy was presumably a normal spiral galaxy like the Milky Way before its collision, but it will continue to transform, which the Webb telescope is eager to track.

[sources:engadget&nasa]