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IC 2944/2948 (catalogued twice)
Heart of the Running Chicken nebula
Open cluster and associated emission nebula in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Spanning about 100ly at the distance of approx. 6000 light years from earth. Dark molecular clouds (Bok globules) can be seen towards the center of the nebula.
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The image is a SHO (hubble palette) combination of about 11hrs of integrated data
Ha - 24 x 900s
Oiii - 17 x 600s
Sii - 16 x 600s
All subs at gain 111, -10°C, bin 2x2
Gear
HEQ5 Pro, 6in reflector, ASI183MM Pro Cooled (imaging), ASI120MM mini (guiding), Baader Mpcc mkiii coma corrector, ASIAir Pro, Optolong Ha 7nm, Optolong Oiii 6.5nm, Optolong Sii 6.5nm, ZWO EAF, ZWO filter drawer.
Location: Perth, Western Australia
January, 2021
Part of Lambda Centauri Nebula.
Constellation: Centaurus
====================================
Magnitude: +4.5
Diameter: 8.5 light years.
Apparent size: 75 x 50 arc min.
Distance: 6,500 light years.
====================================
Image date: 2021-03-04.
Exposure: 75 min (19 x 239.6 sec frames).
Field of View: 1.59° x 1.06°
====================================
IC 2944 -Running Chicken Nebula close shot.39 x 250 secs exposures totalling 2.7 hours with QHY 183 C Pro camera on Skywatcher Quattro 250P Telescope. I have never been able to see a "running chicken" anytime I see this. Other names for it are Lambda Centauri Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula.
IC2944 is a well known circumpolar object in the southern hemisphere. It can be found in the constellation of Centaurus, with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.5. You will find it nestled between the Southern Cross and Carina area. It’s a large structure spanning around 75 arcmin. Other names include The Running Chicken Nebula, RCW 62, and G42. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t see the chicken, maybe a bird in flight?
This rendition is a narrowband Bi-Colour base with RGB stars. My intent was to present an image approximating the more traditional RGB look and feel while using narrowband data as the base. Ha filtered light was used in the red channel. OIII filtered light in the green and blue channels without any weighting applied.
A fascinating feature would have to be the very dark areas in the nebula. These are known as Bok globules, small dark nebula containing dense dust and gas. Usually found in H II regions, they are areas of partially ionized interstellar atomic hydrogen. These globules are now known as Thackeray’s Globules, named after the South African astronomer David Thackeray.
You may notice a slight brightening on the right side of the photo. This glow is the halo of Lambda Centauri, a very bright star about 420 light-years from Earth. With an apparent visual magnitude of +3.13, this halo intrudes into this right side of the image.
Exposure Details:
•Ha 12 X 1200 Bin1
•OIII 22 X 1200 Bin2
•Red 8 X 900 Bin1
•Green 8 X 900 Bin1
•Blue 8 X 900 Bin1
Total Time: 17.3 hours
Instruments
•Telescope: 10" Ritchey-Chrétien RCOS
•Camera: SBIG STL-11000 Mono
•Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900
•Focal Length: 2310.00 mm
•Pixel size: 9.00 um
•Resolution: 0.82 arcsec/pix
Thanks for looking
Terry
A single 149 sec shot of the Running Chicken Nebula IC 2944 . Trying out my new guide scope and cam autoguiding for the 1st time. Canon 5dsr and SW Quattro 250 F4 .
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, The nebula's estimated 6,000 light-years distance from Earth.
This narrowband image portrayed in the Hubble Palette (SHO) required three narrowband filters to create. The first filter, SII, was inserted into the red channel, Ha filtered light in the green channel, and OIII filtered light was used for the blue channel. Equal weightings applied. A small amount of RGB data added to enhance the star colours.
I found it interesting too how this version of “The Running Chicken Nebula” behaved compared to my earlier attempts with a Bi-Colour on the same object. Similar processing yielded very different results. With the addition of the SII channel, the stars had much less colouring and appeared almost white initially. The features and details within both versions are different, and the colouring on the SHO version is a little wilder as expected.
IC2944 is a well known circumpolar object in the southern hemisphere. It can be located in the constellation of Centaurus and has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.5. You will find it nestled between the Southern Cross and Carina area. It’s a large structure spanning around 75 arcmin. Other names include The Running Chicken Nebula, RCW 62, and G42.
A fascinating feature would have to be the very dark areas in the nebula. These are known as Bok globules, small dark nebula containing dense dust and gas. Usually found in H II regions, they are areas of partially ionized interstellar atomic hydrogen. These globules are now known as Thackeray’s Globules, named after the South African astronomer David Thackeray.
You may notice a slight brightening on the right side of the photo. This glow is the halo of Lambda Centauri, a very bright star about 420 light-years from Earth. With an apparent visual magnitude of +3.13, this halo intrudes into this right side of the image.
Instruments:
• 10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1
• Astro Physics AP-900 Mount
• SBIG STL 11000m
• FLI Filter Wheel
• Baader Planetarium H-alpha 7nm Narrowband-Filter
• Baader Planetarium OIII 8.5nm Narrowband-Filter
• Baader Planetarium SII 8.0nm Narrowband-Filter
• Astrodon Red, Green, Blue Filters
Exposure Details:
• SII 20 X 1200
• Ha 12 X 1200
• OIII 22 X 1200
• Red 3 X 900
• Green 2 X 900
• Blue 2 X 900
Total Time: 19.5 hours
Thanks for looking
Terry
Thackeray's Globules are visible on this version.
Here is a paper on the globules in HUBBLESITE.
"Thackeray's globules in IC 2944" by Reipurth B. et al 1997
hubblesite.org/pubinfo/pdf/2002/01/content/paper1997aa.pdf
This frame, 3,098x 2,065 pixels was cropped of the original, 5,764 x 3,820 pixels, and this is comparable to a frame, taken with a telescope of 1,200mm in focal length.
Here is the original. www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/48055934361
equipmnent: Takahashi FSQ-130ED and Canon EOS 5Dmk3-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 24 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, and 5 x 1 minute at ISO 3,200 and f/5.0
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
IC 2944. Running Chicken Nebula, 10 hours and 25 minutes of integration in HSO with Planewave CDK24 610/3962 f 6/5 telescope, QHY 600M Pro camera, are 125 shots of which in Ha 42x300 seconds, in OIII 42x300 seconds and in SII 41x300 seconds, processing with Pixinsight and Photoshop. All data and shots were captured with Telescope Live. IC 2944 (also known as the Centauri Lambda Nebula, sometimes referred to as C 100) is a region of the southern Milky Way in the constellation Centaurus. its distance is about 2000 parsecs (6500 light years) and it is part of the Sagittarius Arm, the closest spiral arm of the Milky Way located more internally than ours.
The most well-known feature of this cloud is the presence of some dark cocoons, known as Thackeray's globules; Due to their instability, there would be no active star formation phenomena inside them, while their origin is due to the disruptive action of the radiation of the massive stars present in the region, which over time has eroded an ancient molecular cloud.
The galactic environment in which this cloud is found is among the most complex known among the spiral arms of the Milky Way: within a radius of just 500 parsecs from it there are in fact some of the most conspicuous stellar objects and nebulae in the southern sky; among these stands out the Carina Nebula, the massive clusters Tr 14 and Tr 16, as well as the bright cluster NGC 4755, the famous Casket of Jewels, visible in the constellation of the Southern Cross, plus other bright OB associations.
New processed photo - Part of the southern Milky Way with the Southern Cross, the pointer stars (Alpha & Beta Centauri), Southern Pleiades and the Carina Nebula
[Canon EOS 1000Da, Canon EF 28 mm f/2.8 bei f/3.5, ISO-800, 15 x 7 Min., Cokin P820, on Astrotrac, APP & Photoshop CC - Astrofarm Tivoli, Namibia, Mai 2014]
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, The nebula's estimated 6,000 light-years distance from Earth.
Daniel Verschatse Observatory
Hacienda los Andes, Chile.
Astro-Physics 305 mm F3.6 Riccardi-Honders Astrograph
FLI Proline PL29050
28,8 Megapixel interline chip
Pixel size: 5.5 micron x 5.5 micron
Sensor size: 36,2 mm x 24,1 mm
Full Well: 20K
Filterwheel FLI CFW-2-7
Astrodon II filters LRGB
Astro Physics AP 1200 GTO
FLI ATLAS large payload focuser
Starlight Express Lodestar on OAG
TheSkyX / MaxPilot
LRGB
18 R - 18 G - 18 B - 35 L 360 s x bin1
Data acquired on April 2018
Processed with Pixinsight and GIMP
Astrometry.net
Center (RA, Dec): (174.113, -63.378)
Center (RA, hms): 11h 36m 27.231s
Center (Dec, dms): -63° 22' 42.382"
Size: 1.73 x 1.21 deg
Radius: 1.057 deg
Pixel scale: 1.01 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 356.4 degrees E of N
Travelers to the southern hemisphere should make an effort to see the Southern Cross (Crux), an asterism used by navigators in the absence of a south pole star. As a circumpolar constellation, Crux is usually above the horizon all night long. See embedded notes for identifications.
Near it is Alpha Centauri, a triple star system whose minor member Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the sun (4.246 light-years).
Not having a tripod, I balanced my camera on an object and used the hat trick (cover lens with a hat when opening the shutter, then remove it quickly).
I could enjoy processing of this frame.
equipmnent: Takahashi FSQ-130ED and Canon EOS 5Dmk3-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 24 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, and 5 x 1 minute at ISO 3,200 and f/5.0
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
The nucleus of an incredible Nebula close to our Southern Hemisphere! The Chicken Running Nebula (IC 2944) is one of my favorites.
Do you see a playful fox, a skulking hyena or… a chicken’s head? Located in the Centaurus constellation, this gas cloud is part of the giant Running Chicken Nebula. Some people see it as the head of the chicken, others see the chicken’s rear end.
But as much as scientists love fun names for nebulae, they are often not very conducive to clear communication in an international field like astronomy. That is why this nebula is formally known by two names that sound, well… a little less funky.
In 1955, Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum made an inventory of 84 emission nebulae in the southern sky: the Gum catalog. This one is known, quite dryly, as Gum 40. Long before Gum, in 1888, Danish astronomer John Louis Emil Dreyer had already compiled the ambitious New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC), an index of 7840 astronomical objects such as galaxies, star clusters and emission nebulae like this one. Dreyer later added two Index Catalogues (IC) to his work, describing another 5386 celestial objects. This nebula was labelled IC 2872. The NGC is still used today: it got its most recent update in 2019, with 13 957 new objects.
This image of IC 2872 — or Gum 40, the chicken head or whatever nickname you might wish to give it — was captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As telescopes and instruments keep getting better, more and more deep-sky objects are discovered, so the lists and catalogues will never be complete. But that shouldn't keep us from trying to compile them — or making up fun nicknames, right?
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team.
My first deep sky mosaic made up of 3 panels joined to create a single image covering an area of the night sky nearly 15 degrees wide by 10 degrees high.
Objects visible include the Southern Cross (Crux) which should be recognisable by anyone in the Southern Hemisphere. NGC4755, the Jewel Box, is a cluster of bright stars just to the left of the left star in the cross. In the bottom right of the image the red cloud is hydrogen gas in IC2944 also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. Directly above this the bright cluster of stars is NGC3766, the Pearl Cluster.
The Jewel Box and Pearl Clusters were identified in 1752 by French astronomer Nicholas Louis de Lacaille who travelled to South Africa to catalogue the Southern night sky during 1751 and 1752. The Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944) was first catalogued in 1834 by Englishman John Herschel during a four year trip to South Africa made to catalogue and describe over 1700 night sky objects using a large reflector telescope with a 20 foot (roughly 6 metre) focal length.
This image was taken on 21 February 2025 from Bortle 2 skies in Coalgate in Canterbury, New Zealand, using a Samyang 135mm lens, ASI2600MC camera and CEM40 mount without guiding. Each of the 3 panels were 84 images of 30 seconds stacked in DSS, then GraXpert, combined in PS, and final edit in Siril. The second image was named using the nova.astrometry.net site.
Thank you for choosing this image of the Southern night sky for Explore on March 5, 2025.
This is another further wider frame of the area taken with dual narrowband filter. Thanks to the filter, the omega-shaped faint object RCW 59 presented with nice clarity.
Figure 10. The Ha emission of G292.9+4.4 (RCW 59) in PP 15,
"Newly confirmed and candidate Galactic SNRs uncovered from the AAO/UKST Ha survey" by Stupar M et al:
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 "Art", IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R-SP4ii, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 7 times x 1800 seconds, 7 x 900sec, 13 x 240 sec, 14 x 60 sec, 10 x 15 sec, and 14 x 4 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.71". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.48 at the night.
This frame was taken with clear filter without dual narrow band filter. Focus got off in longer exposure frames.
Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS Clear Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 4 times x 60 seconds, 5 x 240 sec, and 12 times x 600 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
The planetary nebula RCW61 forms the feet of the Running Chicken nebula complex (IC 2944, IC 2948) in Centaurus.
RCW61 is ionised by three O9 giant stars: HD 100099 (O9 III), CD -62 535 (O9 II) and HD 100444 (O9 II), as well as three B-class stars.
RA: 11h 29m 33.65s
DEC: -63° 48' 31.5"
Location: Centaurus
Acquisition May 2020
Total acquisition time of 18 hours.
Technical Details
Data acquisition: Martin PUGH
Processing: Nicolas ROLLAND
Location: El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile
R 8 x 1200 sec
G 8 x 1200 sec
B 8 x 1200 sec
Ha 23 x 1800 sec
OIII 20 x 1800 sec
Optics: Planewave 17“ CDK @ F6.8
Mount: Paramount ME
CCD: SBIG STXL-11002 (AOX)
Pre Processing: CCDstack & Pixinsight
Post Processing: Photoshop CC
IC 2944 - Glóbulos de Thackeray - La estrella Lambda Centauri
Daniel Verschatse Observatory
Hacienda los Andes, Chile.
Astro-Physics 305 mm F3.6 Riccardi-Honders Astrograph
FLI Proline PL29050
28,8 Megapixel interline chip
Pixel size: 5.5 micron x 5.5 micron
Sensor size: 36,2 mm x 24,1 mm
Full Well: 20K
Filterwheel FLI CFW-2-7
Astrodon II filters LRGB
Astro Physics AP 1200 GTO
FLI ATLAS large payload focuser
Starlight Express Lodestar on OAG
TheSkyX / MaxPilot
30 Ha 900 s x bin1
Data acquired on April 2018
Processed with Pixinsight.
Astrometry.net
Center (RA, Dec): (174.113, -63.378)
Center (RA, hms): 11h 36m 27.231s
Center (Dec, dms): -63° 22' 42.382"
Size: 1.55 x 1.16 deg
Radius: 0.967 deg
Pixel scale: 1.01 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 356.3 degrees E of N
This is a mixture of frames taken with and without dual narrow band filter. Coalsack Loop looked surrounding Coalsack Dark Nebula. Wide variation of colors is special with wide band imaging.
I could enjoy astroimaging near Cerro Armazones in Atacama Desert Chile. I tried acquisition of data on this faint object with dual narrow band filter through successive 5 nights, and I could make this frame. Moon light limited exposure length in several nights, though I was satisfied with the results. This was the main target of this trip to Chile. North is up, and east is to the left.
Here is a frame taken without narrow band filter in 2019:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/48017930862
Coalsack Loop was first detected as G303.5+0 in radio continuum survey in 1995, and it is now recognized as Galactic supershell GSH 305+01-24.
"Massive stellar content of the Galactic supershel GSH 305+01-24" by Kaltcheva N et al 2013:
www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2014/02/aa21454-13.pdf
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrow Band Filter or IDAS Clear Filter, and EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 46 times x 900-1,800 seconds, 21 x 240 sec, and 21 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2 with NB12 filter
13 times x 600 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, and 4 x 60 seconds at ISO1,600 and f/3.2 with Clear filter
I put 85% density of a frame taken with clear filter on starless version frame taken with dual narrow band filter.
Here is the frame taken with clear filter:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/53742755678
and here is the starless frame taken with dual narrow band filter:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/53740199778
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here is a view of the site and my rig:
This is a close up of IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula, with the Bok Globules visible center frame.
IC2944 is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri.
Imaged using a 8" SCT at f6.3 (1280mm focal length), with a QHY268M camera for a total integration time of 13 hours and 37 minutes.
C 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, The nebula's estimated 6,000 light-years distance from Earth.
Stacked and processed using PixInsight.
Equipment Details:
SeeStar S50
Inbuilt Duo Band Filter (Ha and Oiii)
Exposure Details:
203 x 10 second
Total Integration Time: 34 minutes
This is another further wider frame of the area taken with dual narrowband filter.
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 "Art", IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R-SP4ii, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 7 times x 1800 seconds, 7 x 900sec, 13 x 240 sec, 14 x 60 sec, 10 x 15 sec, and 14 x 4 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.71". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.48 at the night.
This is a framing of the most spectacular area of the southern Milky Way, from Centaurus at left, to Carina at right, with Crux, the Southern Cross, at centre.
In this field are arguably the sky's finest examples of various classes of celestial objects:
- the finest telescopic double stars: Alpha Centauri at far left and Acrux at the bottom of the Southern Cross
- the finest globular star cluster: Omega Centauri at top left
- the best dark nebula: the Coal Sack beside Crux (at bottom is the long "Dark Doodad" in Musca)
- the best emission nebula: the Carina Nebula at right (to the left of it is the Lambda Centauri nebulosity)
- the best open star cluster: NGC 3532 or the Football Cluster to the left of the Carina Nebula, with IC 2602, the Southern Pleiades below the nebula a fine runner up. Many other superb star clusters populate this field such as the Jewel Box, NGC 4755, beside Crux.
This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute exposures with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 48mm and f/2.8, on the Canon Ra at ISO 800, with an URTH light pollution filter to help increase contrast. All on the MSM Nomad tracker. Taken from Mirrabook Cottage near Coonabarabran, Australia on a superb night March 5, 2024.
Taken from Savannah Skies Observatory using an SBIG STL-6303 camera and 33-cm RCOS telescope on a Software Bisque PME Mount.
This frames the famous Southern Cross, aka Crux, and the star clusters and nebulas in its vicinity.
At top is the orange star Gacrux; at bottom is the blue-white star Acrux; at left is Becrux, or Mimosa. Next to it is the Jewel Box star cluster, NGC 4755. Below it is the small but intensely red nebula RCW 71 embedded in the dust clouds of the Coal Sack dark nebula. Within the Cross are the clusters NGC 4349 (above Acrux) and Trumpler 20 (below right of Becrux). The small cluster NGC 4609 sits in the Coal Sack to the left of Acrux.
At lower right is the Running Chicken Nebula, IC 2944, with its head and feet being the round nebulas Gum 39 and Gum 41, respectively. Above the Chicken is the Pearl Cluster, NGC 3766. To the right of the Chicken is the cluster IC 2714. Above it is the pair of small nebulas: red NGC 3603 and magenta NGC 3576.
This is a stack of 12 x 2 minute exposures with the Canon RF135mm lens at f/2 and Canon Ra at ISO 800. The lens had an URTH 82mm Night broadband filter on it. The camera was tracked but not guided on the Astro-Physics AP400 mount. Taken from Australia in March 2024 on a night devoted to shooting 135mm telephoto lens fields along the Milky Way.
I could enjoy processing of this frame.
equipmnent: Takahashi FSQ-130ED and Canon EOS 5Dmk3-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 24 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, and 5 x 1 minute at ISO 3,200 and f/5.0
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
equipmnent: Sigma 40mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 12 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 5 x 1 min, and 5x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
This is a close up of IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula, with the Bok Globules visible in the upper third of the frame.
IC2944 is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri.
This image was exposed using a Cooled and full spectrum astro modded DSLR through a 8" SCT at it's native 2032mm (f10) focal length.
The total exposure time was 60.5 hours, through HAlpha, SII, OIII filters and a UV/IR excluding filter for addition of natural colour data.
Redish Coalsack Loop was visible faintly on this frame, taken without dual narrow band filter.
Here is a frame of the same area taken with dual narrow band filter. Coalsack Loop is visible clearly:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/53740199778
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS Clear Filter, and EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 13 times x 600 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, and 4 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.41 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
Direction of flow lines of dark clouds is interesting here.
equipmnent: Sigma 105mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 17 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 8 x 1 min, and 5 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
Other than the region of the Milky Way around the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius and Scorpius, this is arguably the richest area of the Milky Way for showpiece nebulas and star clusters. This two-segment telephoto lens panorama extends from the colourful stars of Crux, the Southern Cross at left, to Carina at right — from the dark Coal Sack Nebula to the bright Carina Nebula.
At lower centre is the Running Chicken Nebula made of IC 2944, IC 2948, and the smaller Gum 39 and Gum 41 nebulas.
The region contains the sky's finest open star clusters:
- the Jewel Box, NGC 4755, beside Becrux, the left star of the Southern Cross
- the Pearl Cluster, NGC 3766, above the Running Chicken
- the Football, aka Black Arrow, Cluster, at upper left of the Carina Nebula
- the Gem Cluster, NGC 3293, above right of the Carina Nebula
- the Southern Pleiades, IC 2602, below the Carina Nebula
- and the unnamed NGC 3114 cluster at far right
Above it at upper right is the pink arc of the Southern Crescent Nebula, NGC 3199, created by winds from a hot Wolf-Rayet star. At centre is the pair of nebulas NGC 3603 and NGCC 3579, with the former being the redder of the two as it is farther away and is more obscured by interstellar dust.
The Coal Sack below Crux is a region of nearby dense interstellar dust that obscures what is farther away behind it.
Technical:
This is a panorama of two segments, each a stack of 12 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon RF135mm lens at f/2 and on the red-sensitive Canon Ra at ISO 800. The lens was equipped with a mild broadband light pollution reduction filter, the 95mm URTH Night. The camera was on the Astro-Physics AP400 mount, for tracking but no guiding. Stacked in Photoshop and stitched in Adobe Camera Raw using Boundary Warp to straighten the fields.
Taken March 12, 2024 from the Warrumbungles Mountain Motel at the OzSky star party, held annually near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia.
This frame was a mixture of frames taken with and without dual narrow band filter. Density 50% of frame taken with clear filter was on frame taken with dual narrow band filter.
There exist many striae of dark or hydrogen-alpha clouds flowing in the same oblique direction, from east northeast to west southwest or vice versa against the galactic plane. Who know the reason or mechanism of the large structure. North is up, and east is to the left.
Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrow Band Filter or IDAS clear filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 16 times x 60 seconds, 16 x 240 sec, and 19 times x 900 - 1,800 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2 with NB12 and 4 times x 60 seconds, 5 x 240 seconds, and 12 x 600 seconds at ISO 1.600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is another further wider frame of the area taken with dual narrowband filter.
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 "Art", IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R-SP4ii, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 7 times x 1800 seconds, 7 x 900sec, 13 x 240 sec, 14 x 60 sec, 10 x 15 sec, and 14 x 4 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.71". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.48 at the night.
Direction of flow lines of dark clouds is interesting here.
equipmnent: Sigma 105mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 17 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 8 x 1 min, and 5 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
The Running Chicken Nebula or the Lambda Centauri Nebula (IC 2944), is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula (between 6,000 - 6,500 light-years away) in the constellation Centaurus, close the star Lambda Centauri.
About Emission nebulae:
Emission nebulae are glowing clouds of interstellar gas which have been excited by some nearby energy source, usually a very hot star. The red light seen in this picture is glowing hydrogen captured in the Hydrogen-Alpha (Hα) Infrared wavelength of light at 656nm.
About this image:
Photographed from the Southern Hemisphere, the "chicken" is upside down, if there is such a thing as the right way up in the Universe... Luckily it still looks like a chicken this way round too.
2 minute ISO 3200 exposures, imaged in the rural dark skies of the Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
About the Star Colors:
You will notice that star colors differ from red, orange and yellow, to blue. This is an indication of the temperature of the star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red ones are cooler.
Gear:
GSO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian Reflector Telescope.
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector.
Astronomik CLS Light Pollution Filter.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
Canon 60Da DSLR.
Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.1.
Image acquisition in Sequence Generator Pro.
Lights/Subs: 15 x 120 sec. ISO 3200 CFA FIT Files.
Calibration Frames:
30 x Bias
30 x Darks
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry Info:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1160326#annotated
RA, Dec center: (174.387810483, -63.4866603694) degrees
Orientation: 1.1213611811 deg E of N
Pixel scale: 6.21617787776 arcsec/pixel
Martin
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I tried StarNet++ v.2.0 GUI version on windows 10 on Lenovo Legion 570i with Core i7 12700H and RTX3050Ti. Processing finished about 5 minutes with Finer tiles box checked. Oxygen III emission areas got clearer. Oxygen III emissions are at 496nm and 501nm in wavelength, and they show a bit bluish green color. All in all, this frame presented unusual view of the area around Coalsack Nebula.
Here is the original: www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/53754127808
Here is a frame taken without dual narrow band filter:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/53757365074/
Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrow Band Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 16 times x 60 seconds, 16 x 240 sec, and 19 times x 900 - 1,800 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now that I'm back in New Zealand, I'm using a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer as a portable imaging platform. This is a 2-minute cumulative ISO1600 exposure using an astromodified Canon 1100D with a Samyang 85mm prime lens at f/2.8.
This is the final version.
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 "Art", IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter or Clear Filter, and EOS R-SP4ii, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 7 times x 1800 seconds, 7 x 900sec, 13 x 240 sec, 14 x 60 sec, 10 x 15 sec, and 14 x 4 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2 with NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter
Exposure: 8 times x 900 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, 4 x 60 sec, and 5 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.71". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.48 at the night.
Even though it looks stunning by itself, this Picture of the Week is actually only a tiny part of a 1.5-billion-pixel image of the Running Chicken Nebula. It forms the comb on the running chicken’s head — at least according to some people, because everyone seems to see a different chicken! The data for this gigantic image was captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), a facility of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics hosted and operated by ESO.
But for now, let’s zoom back in on GUM 39, as this nebula is officially called. In the sky, you will find it in the Centaurus constellation, about 6500 light-years from Earth. All around the nebula, orange, white and blue stars are dotting the sky like fireworks. The pink glow that you see are fumes of hydrogen gas, illuminated by the intense radiation from newborn stars. The nebula is also crossed by dark lanes of cosmic dust that block the light behind them.
Nebulae like this are also called stellar nurseries, because as these dense clouds of molecular gas gravitationally collapse they give birth to plenty of new stars. With telescopes like the VST and ALMA, scientists observe these nebulae to get a better understanding of the complex process of how stars are born.
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ survey
This is the final version.
Equipment: Sigma 105mmF1.4 "Art", IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter or Clear Filter, and EOS R-SP4ii, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 7 times x 1800 seconds, 7 x 900sec, 13 x 240 sec, 14 x 60 sec, 10 x 15 sec, and 14 x 4 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2 with NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter
Exposure: 8 times x 900 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, 4 x 60 sec, and 5 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was up to 0.47". Sky was dark, and SQML was up to 21.69 at the night.
My first deep sky mosaic made up of 3 panels joined to create a single image covering an area of the night sky nearly 15 degrees wide by 10 degrees high.
Objects visible include the Southern Cross (Crux) which should be recognisable by anyone in the Southern Hemisphere. NGC4755, the Jewel Box, is a cluster of bright stars just to the left of the left star in the cross. In the bottom right of the image the red cloud is hydrogen gas in IC2944 also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. Directly above this the bright cluster of stars is NGC3766, the Pearl Cluster.
The Jewel Box and Pearl Clusters were identified in 1752 by French astronomer Nicholas Louis de Lacaille who travelled to South Africa to catalogue the Southern night sky during 1751 and 1752. The Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944) was first catalogued in 1834 by Englishman John Herschel during a four year trip to South Africa made to catalogue and describe over 1700 night sky objects using a large reflector telescope with a 20 foot (roughly 6 metre) focal length.
This image was taken on 21 February 2025 from Bortle 2 skies in Coalgate in Canterbury, New Zealand, using a Samyang 135mm lens, ASI2600MC camera and CEM40 mount without guiding. Each of the 3 panels were 84 images of 30 seconds stacked in DSS, then GraXpert, combined in PS, and final edit in Siril. The second image was named using the nova.astrometry.net site.
This frame was a mixture of frames taken with and without dual narrow band filter. Density 50% of frame taken with clear filter on frame taken with dual narrow band filter.
There exist many striae of dark or hydrogen-alpha clouds flowing in the same oblique direction, from east northeast to west southwest or vice versa against the galactic plane. Who know the reason or mechanism of the large structure. North is up, and east is to the left.
Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrow Band Filter or IDAS clear filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 16 times x 60 seconds, 16 x 240 sec, and 19 times x 900 - 1,800 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2 with NB12 and 4 times x 60 seconds, 5 x 240 seconds, and 12 x 600 seconds at ISO 1.600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
Gum 41, IC2944....Whatever you want to call it that's one funky Chicken
Askar FMA180
Canon M50
L enhance filter
SA2i
83 30s subs, 12 darks.
Edited in Siril/GIMP/Rawtherapee.
Imaged from my bortle 8 front yard last night.
This frame was taken with clear filter without dual narrow band filter. Focus got off in longer exposure frames.
Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS Clear Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 4 times x 60 seconds, 5 x 240 sec, and 12 times x 600 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile
SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
equipmnent: Sigma 40mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 12 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 5 x 1 min, and 5x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0
site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile