July 26, 2021
On the day you were born, the universe was already ancient beyond measure — and yet, in all those billions of years, it had never once...
CG4: A Ruptured Cometary Globule
Birthday · July 26, 2021
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APOD published July 26, 2021. Credit: Nicolas Rolland & Martin Pugh. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Can a gas cloud grab a galaxy? It's not even close. The "claw" of this odd looking "creature" in the featured 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 yet known. The galaxy to the left of the globule is huge, very far in the distance, and only placed near CG4 by chance superposition.
Image credit: Nicolas Rolland & Martin Pugh