The Galaxy Devourer by ShaRA (Shared Remote Astrophotography) Team

El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile

“Is this the cosmic sandworm of Arrakis, from Dune, or the terrifying Graboid from the film Tremors?” ShaRa group member Alessandro Ravagnin asks.

“CG4 (Cometary Globule 4) is a complex of nebulosity and dust with a very peculiar shape, located in the southern constellation of Puppis. The ‘head’ of the galactic worm has dimensions of about 1.5 light years, while the offshoot that follows the head, and which is directed in the opposite direction with respect to the rest of the famous Vela supernova, has a length of about eight light years. This image is the result of the work of a team of astrophotographers; we joined forces to rent the Newtonian 500mm telescope from Chilescope service, processed the raw files, voted as a group for the best images and merged them in PixelMath.”

© ShaRa group: Marcella Botti (Italy), Vikas Chander (India), Massimo Di Fusco (Italy), Aygen Erkaslan (Switzerland), Marco Firenzuoli (Italy), Vincenzo Fiore (Italy), Vincenzo Fermo (Italy), Antonio Grizzuti (Italy), Andrea Lorio (Italy), Vittorio Liberti (Italy), Rolando Ligustri (Italy), Donato Lioce (France), Antonio Loro (Italy), Giampaolo Michieletto (Italy), Gianluigi Pazienza (Italy), Christian Privitera (Italy), Alessandro Ravagnin (Italy), Francesco Tiano (Italy), Cristiano Trabuio (Italy), Egidio Vergani (Italy)