CG 4, commonly referred to as God’s Hand, is a star-forming region located in the Puppis constellation, about 1,300 light-years (400 pc) from Earth. It is one of several objects referred to as “cometary globules”, because its shape is similar to that of a comet. It has a dense head formed of gas and dust, which is around 1.5 ly (0.46 pc) in diameter, and an elongated faint tail around 8 ly (2.5 pc) in length. CG 4, and the nearby cometary globules, generally point away from the Vela Supernova Remnant, located at the center of the Gum Nebula. The head of cometary globule CG 4 resembles a comet with a dusty cavernous mouth. Composed of relatively dense, dark matter, it is an opaque structure that is being illuminated by the glow of a nearby star. An obscure red glow limbing the globule is possibly caused by emission from ionized hydrogen. The mouth of the globule appears to be ready to consume the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO 257-19. In reality, the galaxy is over a hundred million light-years further away from the globule.

Telescope: Planewave CDK17 (FR) f4.5
Mount: Astro Physics 1600GTO
Camera: QHY16200A/ Integral FW
Guider: Agena Starguide II / SBIG STi

L: 51×10 mins = 510 mins, R: 24×10 mins = 240 mins, G: 24×10 mins = 240 mins, B: 24×10 mins = 240 mins

Total Imaging Time: 20h 30m

Data Imaged remotely over 5 nights during December 2020.
Imaged from Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, in partnership with Fred Espenak.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.

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