VLT Survey Telescope Captures 1.5-Billion-Pixel Image of Running Chicken Nebula

The vast stellar nursery, located 6,500 light-years from Earth, is home to young stars whose radiation causes the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow pink.

The European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope in Chile captured a 1.5-billion-pixel image of the Running Chicken Nebula, a vast stellar nursery located about 6,500 light-years from Earth.
The nebula, also known as IC 2944, is home to many young stars that emit intense radiation, causing the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow in shades of pink.
The image is a mosaic of hundreds of separate frames, taken through filters that let through light of different colors, which were then combined into the final result.
The nebula spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons and is 270 light-years wide. It would take an average chicken almost 21 billion years to run across it.
The brightest region within the nebula is called IC 2948, where some observers see the chicken's head and others its rear end. Another region, IC 2944, is marked by a bright, vertical, almost pillar-like structure.

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