Astronomers using the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) have captured the 1.5-billion-pixel image of a vast stellar nursery called the Running Chicken Nebula.
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The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds, all of which we can see in this OmegaCAM/VST image. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / CASU.
The Running Chicken Nebula, also known as IC 2944, is located about 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus.
“The Running Chicken Nebula actually comprises several regions, all of which we can see in this vast image that spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“The brightest region within the nebula is called IC 2948, where some people see the chicken’s head and others its rear end.”
“The wispy pastel contours are ethereal plumes of gas and dust.”
“Towards the center of the image, marked by the bright, vertical, almost pillar-like, structure, is IC 2944.”
“The brightest twinkle in this particular region is Lambda Centauri, a star visible to the naked eye that is much closer to us than the nebula itself.”
There are, however, many young stars within IC 2948 and IC 2944 themselves — and while they might be bright, they’re most certainly not merry.
“As they spit out vast amounts of radiation, they carve up their environment much like, well, a chicken,” the astronomers said.
“Some regions of the nebula, known as Bok globules, can withstand the fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation pervading this region.”
“If you zoom in to the image, you might see them: small, dark, and dense pockets of dust and gas dotted across the nebula.”
“Other regions pictured here include, to the upper right, Gum 39 and Gum 40, and to the lower right, Gum 41.”
“Aside from nebulae, there are countless orange, white and blue stars, like fireworks in the sky.”
“Overall in this image, there are more wonders than can be described — zoom in and pan across, and you’ll have a feast for the eyes.”
“This image is a large mosaic comprising hundreds of separate frames carefully stitched together.”
“The individual images were taken through filters that let through light of different colors, which were then combined into the final result presented here.”
“The data that went into making this mosaic were taken as part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), a project aimed at better understanding the life cycle of stars.”
