Tag: nasa running chicken nebula

[ad_1] Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. According to NASA, it is located about 6,000 light years away towards the constellation of the Centaur and spans almost 100 light-years across. The nebula's strange nickname, Running Chicken, comes from the chicken-like shape of its brightest region, which resembles a running bird.The picture was captured by astrophotographer Daniel Stern, NuSTAR Project Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). What is a Nebula?A Nebula is a star forming region located in Interstellar space, which is the space between stars. It consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. According to NASA, a Nebula can contain as few as ten stars or as many as millions of stars. Although most nebulae bel...