Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  IC 2948
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IC 2944, Jochen Maes
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IC 2944, Jochen Maes

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Description

IC2944 is an emission nebula in the Centaurus constellation, around 6500 light years from earth.

Something that immediately stands out in the image, is the small (although small is still relative here obviously) dark patches in the center. These are what we call bok globules. So what does that mean?

These are essentially very dense pockets of gas/dust giving birth to new star(s) in their center. As is very common in these large star forming regions, its massive inhabitants (typically violent O-type stars) will shape the surroundings by "blowing" apart the gas cloud with their intense stellar winds. These bok globules are the remnants that are just about able to withstand this process and continue star formation.

Image acquisition details:

18x1800" HA
15x1800" OIII
15x1800" SII

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IC 2944, Jochen Maes