1,300 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Pups, in the Milky Way, there is a nebula called “hand of God”imaged by astronomers at the Cerro Talolo Inter-American Observatory using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile.
This cosmic colossus was first spotted in 1976 by Britain’s Schmidt Telescope operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory. In 2024, new images showed a more detailed reddish glow of ionized hydrogen. It is appreciated comet globulewhose shape resembles a head about to swallow the galaxy IT 257-19which is actually over 100 million light years away.
CG 4 is one of the many comet balls in the Milky Way. Photo: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA
Features of the spatial structure
“Hand of God” is officially called CG 4 and, according to the National Optical Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, NOIRLab, it belongs to a subclass of gas and dust clouds in space with a comet-like structure.
When isolated clouds surrounded by hot ionized material show separation of matter, they end up forming a kind of extended tail that creates comet balls.
The ESO 257-19 galaxy is 100 million light-years away from CG 4 and only appears to be nearby. Photo: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA
From the photo NOIRLab was able to check its details: a dusty head 1.5 light years and a long tail that measures around 8 light years. Sizes are considered small compared to others of a similar nature.
In the DECam image, a faint red glow of ionized hydrogen is visible from above CG4 and around its outer edges. This is indicated to be due to the radiation effect of massive and hot stars close to the hydrogen present in the cloud.
How did these cosmic colossi come to be?
Astronomers offer two theories of its formation. The first suggests that they were originally spherical, which were modified a supernova explosion nearbypossibly the same one that created the Gam Nebula where the “hand of God” is located. The explosion would have generated shock waves that distorted the original, giving it the appearance of a dense head and elongated tail.
The second suggests that cometary balls arise from a combined impact Stellar winds and the radiation pressure of massive stars nearby. In the case of CG 4 and others like it inside the Gum, their tails point away from the Vela supernova remnants and when Vela is pressed. These powerful winds and strong radiation could have sculpted the tails, pushing material outwards and creating a distinctive appearance.
