IC 2944, IC 2948 and IC 2872 Clusters

This is an image I processed using original narrowband data from Telescope Live. In my processing workflow, I used the Hubble Palette for the narrowband color mapping.

There are three open clusters and associated emission nebulae shown in this image - IC 2944 (the Running Chicken), IC 2948 and IC 2872. They are found in the southern constellation Centaurus.

In the image above, IC 2944 is centered on lamda Centauri, the 11th brightest star in the constellation. This is the bright star near the center of this image. IC 2944 and IC 2948 overlap. IC 2948 is towards the upper left and IC 2872 is at the lower right of the image.

Lambda Centauri is about 400 light years from Earth. IC 2944 is estimated to be 6,500 light years away.

IC 2948 includes small dark nebula known as Bok globules. These small nebulae contain dense cosmic dust and gas and may be where star formation takes place. See subsequent cropped images for a closer look at these globules.

Exposure time: 2hrs 30min