Cartwheel Galaxy

ring galaxy · ESO 350-40

500 million light-years from Earth

A smaller galaxy punched straight through this one a few hundred million years ago. The collision sent a ripple outward like a stone dropped in a pond, and the expanding ring is lit up with new stars.

• 500 million light-years · 150,000 light-years across
• the collision happened a few hundred million years ago

kind

galaxy · explosion or collision