Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2948)

Location: Warrumbungle Observatory, Australia (149 11 E, 31 16 S)

Date: 4 May 2012

Camera: QHY-9

Telescope: William Optics M120

Frames: Twelve 20 minute Ha frames

Processing: Individual panels stacked in CCDStack, curves, levels, sharpened and noise reduction in Photoshop CS5.

Text adapted from APOD: Bright nebulae abound in and around the expansive southern constellation of Centaurus. This one, cataloged as IC 2948/2944 is near the star Lambda Centauri and not far on the sky from the better known Eta Carinae Nebula. Embedded in the reddish glowing cloud of hydrogen gas, typical of emission nebulae found in massive star-forming regions, is the energetic young star cluster Collinder 249. Seen in silhouette near the top of the view are small, dark clouds of obscuring cosmic dust. Called Thackeray's Globules for their discoverer, they are potential sites for the formation of new stars, but are likely being eroded by the intense radiation from the nearby young stars. Of course, gazing at the center of the region suggests to some IC 2948's popular name - The Running Chicken Nebula.

IC 2948: The Running Chicken Nebula