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The Cartwheel Galaxy's Shape

The Cartwheel Galaxy's shape is unusual. Very few galaxies have this shape. In recent years scientists have come to believe its shape is the result of a galactic collision -- a small galaxy passed through this galaxy. Simulations made by Alan Toomre in 1978 show that this is possible. However, the Ball-of-Light Particle Model predicts something different.

Chronology of the Cartwheel Galaxy

The Ball-of-Light Particle Model predicts the Cartwheel galaxy was made in approximately this fashion.

  1. The large ball-of-light that initially made up the Cartwheel galaxy's core became very unstable and split in two or three.
  2. At least one -- maybe two -- of ejected balls-of-light became the two small galaxies off to the left of the Cartwheel. (They are not shown in the above image.) This explains a bridge of material that can be found between the Cartwheel galaxy and a small spiral galaxy.
  3. The remaining core of the Cartwheel galaxy was very unstable. A very large electromagnetic field spun around the core inducing massive stars and ejecting them in ring pattern.

  4. The ejected stars were relatively stable because of the high velocity at which they were ejected. (The high velocity induces large gravitational forces within a star's core, keeping it stable.)
  5. The massive instability on the surface of the core of the Cartwheel Galaxy began to become more stable. It still continued to eject stars which have become the "spokes" in the galaxy.

  6. The core become relatively unstable again has ejected a second ring. This inner ring has massive decaying balls-of-light that are leaving streams smaller decaying balls-of-light that trail behind creating great comet-shaped structures.

The Massive Decaying balls-of-light in the Cartwheel Galaxy

These massive decaying balls-of-light are relatively hard to see in this image. If the colors in this image are manipulated, then they stand out easier:

Selecting just the massive decaying balls-of-light and deleting the rest of the image:

Traditional theories for galaxy formation can not explain these structures.