Did you catch NASA's photo of the so-called "Cartwheel Galaxy"?
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has peered into the chaos of this galaxy, revealing new details about star formation and the galaxy's central black hole.
Webb's powerful infrared gaze produced this detailed image of the Cartwheel and two smaller companion galaxies against a backdrop of many other galaxies. This image provides a new view of how the Cartwheel Galaxy has changed over billions of years.
The Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light years away in the Sculptor constellation, is a rare sight. Its appearance, much like that of the wheel of a wagon, is the result of an intense event - a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not visible in this image.
NASA said collisions of galactic proportions cause a cascade of different, smaller events between the galaxies involved.
"The Cartwheel is no exception."
The collision most notably affected the galaxy's shape and structure. The Cartwheel Galaxy sports two rings - a bright inner ring and a surrounding, colourful ring.
These two rings expand outwards from the centre of the collision, like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it.
Because of these distinctive features, astronomers call this a "ring galaxy," a structure less common than spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.
The bright core contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters. On the other hand, the outer ring, which has expanded for about 440 million years, is dominated by star formation and supernovas. As this ring expands, it ploughs into surrounding gas and triggers star formation.
Other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, have previously examined the Cartwheel.
But the dramatic galaxy has been shrouded in mystery - perhaps literally, given the amount of dust that obscures the view.
Webb, with its ability to detect infrared light, now uncovers new insights into the nature of the Cartwheel.
"Webb's observations underscore that the Cartwheel is in a very transitory stage. The galaxy, which was presumably a normal spiral galaxy like the Milky Way before its collision, will continue to transform. While Webb gives us a snapshot of the current state of the Cartwheel, it also provides insight into what happened to this galaxy in the past and how it will evolve in the future," NASA said.
This is all good stuff. And that photo has us doing cartwheels in our mind.
The Tie Is Dead
Topics has noted before that ties are pointless and ridiculous, not to mention uncomfortable.
Seriously, why would a person choose to wear something that feels like you're being choked. It's a classic example of groupthink or some kind of mass hypnosis. Because it's the done thing, it keeps on being done.
We noticed the tie was dying out even before the pandemic. The pandemic tightened the noose on the tie's impending demise.
We did enjoy a story in the SMH last week that was titled, "The Tie is Dead".
The story ran a photo of world leaders going tieless at the G7 Summit in Germany in June.
"Ermenegildo Zegna, chief executive of Zegna, the label favoured by former PM Paul Keating, has given up on ties," the story said.
It quoted Zegna as saying: "Let me be clear - the suit is not dead. But the tie is!"
