My latest processing assignment for my #astrophotography class, using data from the Gateway Remote Telescope.
This is the star-forming region CG 4, known as “God’s Hand” — although as a Star Wars fan I think of it as “Millennium Falcon Escaping the Jaws of the Giant Space Slug.” It’s my favorite astro image so far and I can’t get enough of it, so here are 3 versions: a wide view, a starless image, and a tighter crop. Details in the alt text.
A tighter crop of “God’s Hand,” focusing on the “arm” and “hand” gas cloud formation reaching out toward the spiral galaxy.
Starless image of “God’s Hand” (the stars were extracted using the program Starnet). Only the smoky, hazy shapes of the luminous gas clouds, as well as the glow of the distant spiral galaxy, appear against the darkness. The effect is painterly and surreal.
Image of the star-forming region CG 4 (“God’s Hand”) — 1,300 light years away — which appears as a hand on an outstretched arm (or perhaps an open-mouthed creature with a long neck) extending from a luminous gas cloud in hues of pink and purple, in a field of hazy gases and multicolored stars. The “hand” or “mouth” appears to reach out to seize or devour a small spiral galaxy — ESO 257-19, which in reality is over 100 million light years further away. (H/t Wikipedia)
Data taken from the Amateur Astronomers Association’s Gateway Remote Telescope. Processed and edited by me using Siril, Starnet, and GIMP, with final edits in Snapseed.