Gum 39 and IC 2872 (Gum 40)

Gum 39 and IC 2872 (or Gum 40) are 2 emission nebulae in the southern Centaurus constellation.

Both nebulae are part of the Running Chicken nebula complex, about 6.500 light years from earth, and correspond to the ‘head’ (Gum 39) and the ‘wattles’ (Gum 40) of the ‘chicken’

Gum 39 is the bright nebula on the left, centered around the blue, hot star O6 V HD99897.

IC 2872 is the brightest part of the large diffuse nebula on the right. IC 2872 has two or three bright lobes, perhaps defined (as in the Trifid Nebula) by dust lanes.

This SHO-Image was acquired with CHI-2, data from 3 one-click observations

Total integration time: 200 minutes

SHO: 7:7:6 subs of 600s with each narrowband filter (SII, H-alpha and OIII).