Photo #1 (Jan 2012)

RUNNING CHICKEN NEBULA

I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars. 
- Walt Whitman

Credit: SSRO

IC2948 in Centaurus, better known as the Running Chicken Nebula, is shown here as a narrowband image in the traditional Hubble palette (SII-Ha-OIII). The exact location of the chicken in this image (running or not) is debatable. The very bright star (slightly below the image center) is Lambda Centauri. The Running Chicken is about 6000 light years away (though based on its "athletic" moniker, who knows... that distance may be changing!)

The miracles of every living being on our planet is indeed as wondrous as the stars and glaxies and nebulae in the firmament.
                                                 - Dan Benor, MD