November 27, 2017 - The Mouth of the Beast

The Mouth of the Beast Like the gaping mouth of a gigantic celestial creature, the cometary globule CG4 glows menacingly in this image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. In 1976, several elongated comet-like objects were discovered on pictures taken with the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia. Because of their appearance, they became known as cometary globules even though they have nothing in common with comets. The exact nature of cometary globules remains a mystery, but theories suggest that they may have been spherical nebulae that acquired their new unusual form because of the effects of nearby supernova explosions, or perhaps they were shaped by stellar winds and ionizing radiation from nearby hot stars. CG4 is located about 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Puppis.

Image credit: European Southern Observatory

Weekly Calendar

November 27 - December 3, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 27

Neptune 1.2° north of Moon
Mars 3° north of Spica

1885: First photo of a meteor shower
1971: Mars 2 probe becomes first artificial object to hit Mars
1997: Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission launched