A Close-up Look at The Running Chicken Nebula & Thackeray's Globules | ESO

A Close-up Look at The Running Chicken Nebula & Thackeray's Globules | ESO

This video gives us a close-up look at the spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. This image also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely 

Distance: 6,500 light years

This image was released to celebrate a milestone—15 years of the European Southern Observatory's VLT. 

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: May 23, 2013

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