COMETARY GLOBULE CG4

1300 light-years

Cometary globules are isolated, relatively small clouds of gas and dust within the Milky Way. The flower-like image of this star-forming region visible from Earth's southern hemisphere was taken with the National Science Foundation's Victor M. Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Credit: T.A. Rector / University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOAO / AURA / NSF.