APOD: 2023 January 3 – Kembles Cascade of Stars

The line of stars is not fake. When seen with binoculars, Kemble's Cascade of stars is awe-inspiring. Kemble'sCascade is not a constellation like the Big Dipper. There is a constellation of giraffes in the northern sky. The string of stars spans over five times the width of the full moon. Lucian Kemble popularized Kemble'sCascade, which stretched from the upper left to the lower right. There is a bright object near the top left of the image.

Page 2

Explanation: Can a gas cloud eat 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.