This artist's illustration offers a 'window seat' view of comet-like clouds of gas racing through the heart of the Cartwheel galaxy at 700, 000 mph.

The large orange and yellow pancake-like object is the galaxy's core, and the white streaks along its edges are the comet-like objects. The objects probably were spawned by a collision between high-speed and slow-moving material.

Credit: J. Gitlin ( Space Telescope Science Institute), and NASA/ESA