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Credit & Copyright: Josch Hambsch
Explanation:
Can a gas cloud eat a galaxy?
It's not even close.
The odd looking "creature" or "hand" extending down from the top of the
above photo is a gas cloud known as a
cometary globule.
This globule, however, has ruptured.
Cometary globules
are typically characterized by
dusty heads and
elongated tails.
These features cause cometary
globules
to have visual similarities to comets,
but in reality they are very much different.
Globules
are frequently the birthplaces of stars,
and many show very young stars in their heads.
The reason for the rupture in the head of this
object is not completely known.
The galaxy
to the near the bottom of the image is huge, very far in the distance, and only placed
near
CG4 by chance superposition.
News Flash:
Phoenix Spacecraft Launches to Mars
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: cometary globule
Publications with words: cometary globule
See also:
- APOD: 2026 April 28 Á CG 30: Cometary Globules
- APOD: 2026 March 11 Á CG 4: The Globule and the Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 July 16 Á Cometary Globules
- APOD: 2024 May 21 Á CG4: The Globule and the Galaxy
- APOD: 2023 January 4 Á CG4: The Globule and the Galaxy
- CG4: A Ruptured Cometary Globule
- Cometary Globule CG4