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What it is : CG 4 , a " cometic globule " often called " God ’s Hand "
Where it is : Gum Nebula , 1,300 light - year away in the configuration Puppis ( the " poop deck " )
‘God’s Hand’ is one of many cometary globules in the Milky Way.
When it was shared : May 6 , 2024
Why it ’s so particular : CG 4 is a moderately typical cloud of gas pedal and dust where stars are being born , but its foreign shape has earned it two odd name . report as a " cometary globule " because of its faint after part ’s resemblance to acomet , it ’s also called " God ’s Hand " for its likeness to a massive outstretched arm hit across the universe .
In this raw persona from the Dark Energy Camera ( DECam ) on the Blanco Telescope in Chile , CG 4 ’s dusty head and long tail resemble a rima oris about to consume a side - on Galax urceolata called ESO 257 - 19 . It ’s a chance alignment because the galaxy is over 100 million light - years beyond . Azoomable faithful - up imageshows CG 4 ’s head and tail and two young stars being carry .
Diagrams from NOIRLab show the position of two young stars being born in the cometary globule.
How cometary globules form is a mystery . Some astronomers hypothesise that they ’re shaped by starring fart from monumental hot stars nearby . Others suggest that these structures may be sphericalnebulasthat deform after being affect by a nearby supernova — a star that exploded .
pertain : James Webb telescope reveals fiery ' mane ' of the Horsehead Nebula in prominent unexampled images
— Space photo of the week : Warped ' hummingbird galaxy ' guard a cosmic egg
— Space photo of the calendar week : Hubble catches a ' baseball extragalactic nebula ' with a black hole pith
— Space exposure of the week : combat ignominious holes take out two beetleweed apart
CG 4 could itself be the expanding remains of a supernova from about a million old age ago . cometic globule are not rarified in theMilky Way , but the Gum Nebula is place to at least 32 , accord to the National Science Foundation’sNOIRLab . The Gum Nebula is an emission nebula — a swarm of live gas energized by a nearby star .
Although the Gum Nebula is a large structure , it ’s very shadowy . Scientists used DECam ’s particular Hydrogen - alpha filter to effigy CG 4 . atomic number 1 becomes ionize when come to by radiation from stars , enabling DECam to image a lightheaded red freshness within CG 4 ’s head and around its outer rim .
oversee by NOIRLab , DECam is a 570 - megapixel camera with 74 sensors . It sits on the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope , a 4 - meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter - American Observatory on Cerro Pachon in Chile .
