¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 April 20 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. IC 2944: The Running Chicken Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Juan Filas Explanation: To some, it looks like a [4]giant [5]chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where [6]star formation takes place. Cataloged as [7]IC 2944, the [8]Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 [9]light years away toward the constellation of the [10]Centaur (Centaurus). The [11]featured image, shown in [12]scientifically assigned colors, was captured recently in a 12-hour exposure. The [13]star cluster [14]Collinder [15]249 is visible embedded in the nebula's glowing gas. Although difficult to discern here, several dark [16]molecular clouds with [17]distinct shapes can be [18]found inside the nebula. Tomorrow's picture: eye on __________________________________________________________________ [19]< | [20]Archive | [21]Submissions | [22]Index | [23]Search | [24]Calendar | [25]RSS | [26]Education | [27]About APOD | [28]Discuss | [29]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [30]Robert Nemiroff ([31]MTU) & [32]Jerry Bonnell ([33]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [34]Specific rights apply. [35]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC & [39]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/IC2944_Filas_3320.jpg 3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/juanfilas/ 4. http://www.pbase.com/image/135786665 5. https://youtu.be/jPyN3K1Up6c?t=5 6. https://jwst.nasa.gov/birth.html 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_2944 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?tquery=chicken 9. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/Numbers/Math/Mathematical_Thinking/how_long_is_a_light_year.htm 10. http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Centaur/centaur.html 11. https://www.flickr.com/photos/juanfilas/48525227762/ 12. http://cincovidas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BPA-Methylparaben-Tamoxifen.jpg 13. http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18009 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_Collinder 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/249_(number) 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_cloud 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081228.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140305.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200419.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 28. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200420 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200421.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 33. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 35. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 39. http://www.mtu.edu/