Tumble into the Cartwheel Galaxy.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is the latest distant galaxy to get the Webb telescope treatment. The Webb telescope is the most powerful telescope ever built, and it continues to capture incredible images of the distant cosmos. In a new video from the European Space Agency, which partners with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, the telescope zooms through the cosmos to the Cartwheel Galaxy located 500 million light-years away.
The video ends with a stunning composite image of the Cartwheel Galaxy captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument the combination of which allows for a level of detail and clarity that would be hard to see in the individual images.
In the snapshot, the Cartwheel Galaxy is in a transitory stage, meaning it might be in the process of colliding or interacting with another galaxy. The future form the galaxy will take is still a mystery, but the images provide insight into its past and future.
