Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Thackeray's Globules in IC 2944 - Starless, Sean Liang
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Thackeray's Globules in IC 2944 - Starless, Sean Liang

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

These images show the chaotic but beautiful ionisation fronts in the heart of the Running Chicken Nebula (IC2944). In the centre of the area are many small black dust clouds called Bok globules (better shown in the starless image). They are dense, isolated clouds of cosmic dust in which new stars are being born. 

They may look insignificant in the picture, but they are truly remarkable in size. The larger globules in this picture are 1 to 2 light-years across. In comparison, our outermost planet's orbit (Pluto) is only 0.0007 light-years in radius. If our planetary system is in the picture, it will be smaller than a single pixel!

FYI, these Bok globules are now known as Thackeray's Globules because David Thackeray discovered them in 1950. 

(The original data was acquired from iTelescope, which I processed using pixinsight and photoshop).

Comments

Histogram

Thackeray's Globules in IC 2944 - Starless, Sean Liang