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This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows the Lambda Centauri Nebula. Also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, this strange nickname comes from the bird-like shape of its brightest region. The star Lambda Centauri (ESO)
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released this new image of Lambda Centauri nebula, about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program, an educational initiative.
New stars are glowing brightly with ultraviolet radiation amid clouds of dust and excited hydrogen molecules that shine red. Various opaque dense regions that absorb light are called Bok globules, and are also areas of star formation.
The most striking of these Bok globules are located in the upper right section of the picture, and are called Thackeray’s Globules.
This cloud of star-forming gas is also known as the IC 2944/2948 Complex, while some people refer to it as the Running Chicken Nebula due to the appearance of its red region which is meant to resemble a sprinting fowl.
The strip of four bright stars in the center is open cluster IC 2944. These stars are more massive and much hotter than the sun. The surrounding stars are cluster IC 2948.These stars are older than the infant stars inside Thackeray’s Globules, but are still relatively young at only a few million years old. Their ultraviolet energy emission helps to illuminate the nebula, which will slowly fade as it depletes its supply of gas and radiation.
In this image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, dense opaque dust clouds known as Bok globules are silhouetted against nearby bright stars. (NASA, ESA, STScI, AURA)
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