The VLT Survey Telescope has just brought the astronomy community a stunning new image, showing the majesty of an area with a very interesting name: the Running Chicken Nebula.
Located about 6,500 light-years from Earth, the Running Chicken Nebula, also known to scientists by its “alias” IC 2944, is located in the constellation Centaurus and is about 100 light-years across. This region is home to many bright young stars, creating giant clouds of dust and gas and forming complex structures, such as the Running Chicken Nebula seen here.
This particular structure has been likened to a chicken. The brightest region in the nebula is called IC 2948, which resembles a colorful rooster's tail. The delicate pastel outlines are thin streams of gas and dust. Prominent in the center of the image is the bright, vertical, almost pillar-like structure of IC 2944. The brightest twinkling point in this particular region is Lambda Centauri, a star visible to the naked eye that is much closer to Earth than the nebula itself.
In fact, the image above from the VLT Survey Telescope is actually a composite of several smaller images. The VLT is equipped with a camera called OmegaCAM, which operates at visible light wavelengths and looks at the southern sky from the system’s southern hemisphere location. The images are taken using different filters, each of which captures a specific wavelength of light, allowing scientists to gather detailed information about distant targets like this nebula.
The Running Chicken Nebula is being observed as part of a project to study the life cycles of stars. When stars are born from clouds of dust and gas, they typically emit large amounts of radiation when they are young. This radiation carves shapes into the dust and gas, forming patterns and causing them to shine.
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