Cartwheel Galaxy

by Celestial Image Co.

Title

Cartwheel Galaxy

Artist

Celestial Image Co.

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Cartwheel galaxy. Optical image of the Cartwheel galaxy (centre) and its companions (lower right). The ring shape of the Cartwheel is due to a collision with one of the smaller galaxies. As the smaller galaxy passed through the Cartwheel, it caused a shock wave to spread outwards in a similar fashion to ripples on a pool of water. The shock wave led to a burst of star formation in the galaxy as it spread outward, leading to the bright ring seen here. Before the collision, the Cartwheel was probably a normal spiral galaxy. The ring is some 150, 000 light years in diameter. This galaxy lies around 500 million light years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor.

Uploaded

May 12th, 2013

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