IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula

IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula. IC 2944 is a southern hemisphere object. It is not visible from the USA. It is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri. It features Bok globules, which are frequently a site of active star formation. However, no evidence for star formation has been found in any of the globules in IC 2944. (NASA Science)

This is a widefield image that shows the entire emission nebula. You need to zoom in on the large blue region in the image to see the Bok globules.

Also near the center right of the image is open cluster, NGC 3766, Caldwell 97.

This image is a narrowband image. Ionized gases in this nebula produce three prominent emissions: Hydrogen Alpha (656.3 nm), Sulfur II (672 nm) and Oxygen III (500.7 nm). I used the Seti Astro Foraxx Palette to map these emissions to RGB image channels. The mapping is as follows:

Red: Sulfur II (672 nm)

Green: Hydrogen Alpha (656.3 nm)

Blue: Oxygen III (500.7 nm)

Bottom line, this mapping communicates the composition of different regions in the nebula. It does not represent the way the nebula appears to our eyes.

Image processed by Andrew F. Macica, original data from Telescope Live.

Imaging Details:

Observatory: Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile

Telescope: Officina Stellare RH200 Reflector

Aperture: 200 mm, f/3

Focal Length: 600 mm

Camera: FLI ML16200 CCD

Filters: SII, H-alpha, OIII

Total Exposure: 6 hours 30 min.

Image Processing:

PixInsight 1.9.3 Lockhart (x64);

BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);

Adobe Photoshop 25.12.4;

Adobe Lightroom Classic 15.4.1

Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.