The Running Chicken Nebula

This is an image of IC 2044, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. It is an open cluster and associated emission nebula about 6,500 light years away in the constellation Centaurus. It has some very prominent Bok Globules in the center, which are usually sites of active star formation. However, there does not appear to be any star formation associated with the globules in IC 2044. This image was captured with narrowband filters (Ha, SII, and OIII) and processed with the Hubble palette.