James Webb telescope snaps a photo of unique "Cartwheel Galaxy"

Image courtesy of NASA

NASA's "James Webb Space Telescope" (JWST) has captured this composite image of the elusive "Cartwheel Galaxy" located 500 million light years away from Earth via its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Previously observed by the Hubble space telescope in 1996, the Cartwheel Galaxy is believed to have resulted from the collison of a large spiral galaxy not unlike our own with a much smaller galaxy. Unlike our own, however, the result is classified as a "ring galaxy", the rarest galaxy classification, due to possessing both a bright inner ring and colorful outer ring comprised of star clusters, both of which are showcased in detail here.

Also showcased in detail via MIRI is the large amount of chemical compounds within the Cartwheel Galaxy's "spokes", colored red in this image. These spokes contain, among various other compounds, hydrocarbons and sillicate dust similar to those found on Earth.

JWST's current status can be tracked via NASA's "Where is Webb" page.