Cartwheel Galaxy

The Cartwheel Galaxy (also known as ESO 350-40) is a lenticular galaxy about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. It is about 150,000 light-years across. The estimated mass is solar masses, and it is rotating at .

It was discovered by Fritz Zwicky in 1941.

An estimation of the galaxy's span resulted in a conclusion of 150,000 light years, which is slightly larger than the Milky Way.

Structures

The Cartwheel galaxy shows non-thermal radio and optical spokes, but they are not the same spokes.

Evolution

The galaxy was once a normal spiral galaxy like the Milky Way before it apparently underwent a head-on collision with a smaller companion approximately 200 million years ago (i.e., 200 million years prior to the image). When the nearby galaxy passed through the Cartwheel Galaxy, the force of the collision caused a powerful shock wave through the galaxy, like a rock being tossed into a sandbed. Moving at high speed, the shock wave swept up gas and dust, creating a starburst around the galaxy's center portion that were unscathed. This...
Read More