Galaxies · Galaxy · ring galaxy
A ring galaxy shaped by a past collision. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022 (Sampled from this image)
#624247#0F0B0A#251B1B#7C545E#4B3840#B6747B#ECADAE
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. · released 2 August 2022
About Cartwheel Galaxy
A ring galaxy shaped by a past collision.
| Classification | Galaxy (ring galaxy) |
|---|---|
| Observed light (this view) | 900 nm (shown as blue), 1.5 μm (shown as blue), 2.0 μm (shown as green), 2.77 μm (shown as yellow), 18 μm (shown as orange), 10 μm (shown as orange), 12 μm (shown as orange), 7.77 μm (shown as orange), 4.44 μm (shown as red), 3.56 μm (shown as red) |
Why these colours?
Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022
Infrared light; colours assigned by the Webb team. Filters listed by the publisher: 900 nm (shown as blue) (900 nm), 1.5 μm (shown as blue) (1.5 µm), 2.0 μm (shown as green) (2 µm), 2.77 μm (shown as yellow) (2.77 µm), 18 μm (shown as orange) (18 µm), 10 μm (shown as orange) (10 µm), 12 μm (shown as orange) (12 µm), 7.77 μm (shown as orange) (7.77 µm), 4.44 μm (shown as red) (4.44 µm), 3.56 μm (shown as red) (3.56 µm).
From: Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022 Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Cartwheel Galaxy.
Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022
Sampled from this image · Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022
#624247RGB 98, 66, 71region average#0F0B0ARGB 15, 11, 1064% of the region#251B1BRGB 37, 27, 2710% of the region#7C545ERGB 124, 84, 948% of the region#4B3840RGB 75, 56, 648% of the region#B6747BRGB 182, 116, 1236% of the region#ECADAERGB 236, 173, 1744% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Cartwheel Galaxy
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Cartwheel Galaxy
Inspired by this object
#312D2BRGB 49, 45, 43from #0F0B0A#574B4BRGB 87, 75, 75from #251B1B#816B74RGB 129, 107, 116from #4B3840#B68A94RGB 182, 138, 148from #7C545E#F0A9B0RGB 240, 169, 176from #B6747B#FFDFDFRGB 255, 223, 223from #ECADAE
Colours of the first view of Cartwheel Galaxy with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- Galaxies — NASA
- Cartwheel Galaxy (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image) — ESA/Webb
Image credits
- Webb near- and mid-infrared view, 2022: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 8ce61fcfced27d8e81395369c4af994b9a4278ec88c5fd8c0aa455ab2491063e).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision bfbe925f787d. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.