IC2944 - Running Chicken Nebula

IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, the Lambda Centauri Nebula is a young open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in one of the largest constellations in the sky, Centaurus. It lies at a distance of about 6,500 light-years from Earth.

In this wider field of view IC 2944 and IC 2948, as well as the fainter IC 2872 object is also visible. 

It features Bok globules, which are frequently a site of active star formation. They are named for the Dutch-American astronomer who first drew attention to them as the possible sites of star formation. These dark markings are discrete, opaque dust clouds, the largest containing enough material to form several stars the mass of the sun. However, no evidence for star formation has been found in any of the globules in IC 2944.

The IC 2944 is only observable from the southern hemisphere,  it does not rise high enough in the northern sky. 

This image, edge to edge, is around 270 light-years wide. It would take an average chicken about 21 billion years to run across it. That’s much longer than our Universe has been around for.