Sign up for free

Newsletters

Once a month
get new photos
and expert tips.

Science and Space
Main Health and Human Body Earth Space Prehistoric World A-Z

Cartwheel Galaxy

Photo: A brightly colored, cartwheel-shaped galaxy

This false-color view of the Cartwheel galaxy was created by combining images captured by four space telescopes: Galaxy Evolution Explorer, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory. Astronomers think a smaller galaxy, possibly one of two galaxies seen here (bottom left), passed through the center of the Cartwheel galaxy about 100 million years ago.

Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech