RCW62

The large bright nebula IC 2944 (RCW 62 / Gum 42) corresponds to the "body" of the Running Chicken nebula complex, which is ionised by the Cru OB1 association.

According to Avedisova, the nebula is ionised by the O6 III giant HD 101190, the O6 V star HD 101436 and the O9 IV subgiant HD 101223 as well as the B0.5 Iab supergiant HD 101545. (SIMBAD gives a much cooler B6Ib/II class for HD 101436.)

A 2013 study finds that the X-ray sources in this direction are concentrated around the O8 V star HD 101205 suggesting that this star may also be associated with the nebula.

Avedisova places RCW 60, RCW 61, RCW 62, Gum 39, Gum 40, Gum 41, Gum 42, and IC 2944 in star formation region SFR 293.64-1.41 with 51 components, including 7 masers and 18 infrared sources. Humphreys says that the hot stars in this direction form the Cru OB1 association at an average distance of 2510 parsecs.

Dutra and colleagues say that RCW 62 contains the infrared group [DBS2003] 69, although curiously they give a distance of only 1700 parsecs.