Space, the final front wheel...

PHOTOGRAPHED from an unimaginable distance, this is the spectacular Cartwheel Galaxy as it has never been seen before.

Located around 500million light years from Earth, the Cartwheel is the result of a vast head-on collision between two galaxies, Nasa and the European Space Agency said. The impact sent two rings expanding from the galaxy’s centre, ‘like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed in’, the agencies added. The outer ring, with its spokes of colour, has been expanding into the universe for around 440million years, sparking the formation of new stars. The Cartwheel was discovered in 1941 and has been photographed before but the new image comes from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope which launched last year.