CG 4 - Hand of God Nebula
- Resolution:
- 1700x1091 px
- File size:
- 752 KB
Photo description / processing
Hand of God Nebula (CG 4)
Taken with Celestron Origin. 230 subs at 60 Sec each - 1000 ISO – clear filter. Approximately 3¾ hours of data. Around Bortle 2 or 3.
Taken: West Taratahi Hall, Chester Rd, Masterton, NZ.
March 2026.
Another processed image using previous data.
Stacked and processed in Siril, using Statistical Stretch, RC-Astro, Cosmic Clarity and Veralux Scripts.
To me, it looks like a serpent mouth reaching out to swallow the galaxy.
CG 4 (Cometary Globule 4), known as the "Hand of God" or "Jaws of the Beast," is a striking, 8 light-year-long star-forming region in the constellation Puppis, located about 1,300 light-years away. This dense cloud of gas and dust appears to be "reaching" toward a distant galaxy (PGC 21338), though this is a chance alignment.
The "Monster" Illusion: In many long-exposure photographs, the "mouth" of the cometary globule CG 4 appears to be about to "devour" PGC 21338. However, this is purely a perspective effect; CG 4 is part of our own Milky Way galaxy and is only about 1,300 light-years away, meaning the galaxy is roughly 100,000 times further away than the nebula.
Technical information
- Telescope/Lens
- Celestron Origin
- Camera
- Sony Starvis IMX178
- Mount
- Celestron NexStar Evolution
- Guide Scope
- Celestron StarSense Autoguider
- Software
- Siril
- Location
- Masterton, New Zealand
Light pollution
Blue, Bortle 3 zone
Exposure
- 230 × 60″ · ISO/Gain: 1000
Total exposure: 3 h 50 m
Comments
One question: if you have RC-Astro, then why use Cosmic Clarity?
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