Gum 39 is one of several nebulae in a vast stellar nursery called the Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944), which is located about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus.
This VST image shows the nebula Gum 39. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Survey.
This image of Gum 39 is actually only a tiny part of a 1.5-billion-pixel image of the Running Chicken Nebula.
The data for this gigantic image were captured by ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST).
“It forms the comb on the running chicken’s head — at least according to some people, because everyone seems to see a different chicken,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“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 6,500 light-years from Earth.”
“All around Gum 39, orange, white and blue stars are dotting the sky like fireworks.”
“The pink glow that you see is 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 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), scientists observe these nebulae to get a better understanding of the complex process of how stars are born.”
