What's the word for when you suddenly become aware of how small you are in comparison with the universe? This is a photo of the Cartwheel Galaxy, which is about 500m light years away from our planet and is 1.5 times the size of our galaxy the Milky Way. The incredible image was captured by Nasa's triumphant James Webb space telescope – the most powerful space observatory built to date. You can also see two smaller galaxies against a backdrop of many other galaxies. The Cartwheel, which has been studied by scientists for decades, looks like a wheel because hundreds of millions of years ago, two galaxies collided. A smaller galaxy plunged through the heart of a large spiral galaxy, creating expanding ripples of star formation. "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," says Nasa. The Cartwheel is continually expanding and new stars are being formed inside of it. There's no telling how large it will become. #space #NASA #telescope #galaxy #cartwheel #milkyway #science