Like a giant sand worm emerging from the dunes of Arrakis, lies the giant cloud of molecular gas and dust known as cometary globule CG4, about 1300 light years away in the southern hemisphere constellations of Vela and Puppis. In this dramatic scene, CG4 appears to be lunging forward ready to swallow the unsuspecting galaxy PGC21338, though in reality the galaxy is quite safe (haha), being more than 100 million light years further away.
My rendition of this intriguing part of the night sky was captured across 28 Jan – 5 Feb 2025. Unfortunately much of my data was ultimately rejected due to poor atmospheric seeing and smoke from bushfires in Victoria, so the final version here (being the best of the best of sub-exposures) represents 9.3 hours of exposure time.
Sharpstar 13028HNT, Skywatcher HEQ5, QHY533C, Optolong UV-IR, 186 x 3min sub exposures. Processed with PixInsight
Astrobin version here:
https://app.astrobin.com/i/9j74i6
