Telescope images reveal 'cloudy, ominous structure' known as 'God's Hand' in Milky Way

An interstellar structure known as “God’s Hand” can be seen reaching across the cosmos toward a nearby spiral galaxy in stunning new images captured by the powerful Dark Energy Camera.

The "cloudy, ominous" cometary globule located 1,300 light-years from Earth in the Puppis constellation resembles something of "a ghostly hand," said the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab.) While officially known as CG 4, its distinctive shape is what lends the structure its divine nickname.

NOIRLab, a federally-funded research and development center, released images of "God's Hand" earlier this week along with an explanation of why observing phenomenon is so awe-inspiring and rare for astronomers.

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What are cometary globules?

Cometary globules are a type of dark nebula – interstellar clouds containing a high concentration of dust – known as Bok globules. These isolated clouds of dense cosmic gas and dust are surrounded by hot, ionized material. 

Their name notwithstanding, cometary globules have nothing to do with actual comets other than that their extended tails are quite comet-esque.

How these objects get their distinctive form is still a matter of debate among astronomers, NOIRLab said.

'God's Hand' appears to be reaching for ESO galaxy

The new image of the glowing red structure resembling a ghostly hand is CG 4 – one of many cometary globules present within the Milky Way.

The end of the structure, which could better be described as a claw rather than a hand, is 1.5 light-years across, NOIRLab said. Its tail, or arm, stretches another 8 light years – making CG 4 a comparatively small Bok globule.

The tiny, disc-shaped spec that the claw appears to be reaching for in the image is a spiral galaxy known as ESO 257-19 (PGC 21338). Fortunately for ESO, the galaxy is in fact located a safe distance of more than 100 million light-years away from the menacing grasp of "God's Hand."

Astronomers have observed these structures throughout the Milky Way, but the overwhelming majority of them, including CG 4, are found within the Gum Nebula. Believed to be the expanding remains of a supernova that took place about a million years ago, the Gum Nebula is a huge patch of glowing gas containing at least 31 cometary globules in addition to CG 4, NOIRLab said..

The camera that capture the image is mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Cometary globules first discovered in 1976

The first cometary globules were first discovered in 1976 from images captured by the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia. The reason the structures were able to go undetected for so long is because these cosmic phenomena are so faint and typically shrouded from the view of cameras and telescopes by stellar dust.

But with its Hydrogen-Alpha filter, the Dark Energy Camera was able to pick up a faint red glow of ionized hydrogen. The light is produced when hydrogen becomes energized by radiation from nearby hot, massive stars.

Ironically, that same intense radiation is gradually destroying the head of the globule and sweeping away the tiny particles that scatter the starlight, astronomers say.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com