The Running Chicken Nebula is an emission nebula located as much as 6,500 light-years from Earth.

 

It was discovered in 1904 by Royal Frost.

 

In the center of this nebula are the so-called Bok globules, which are black due to the high density of cosmic dust and are often the sites of new star formation. The nebula itself extends for about 100 light years.

 

The brightest star in the image is Lambda Centauri, a giant star, and it is just outside the nebula itself. It is 5 times larger than the Sun.

 

At the bottom of the image we can also see the round planetary nebula PK 294-00.1, which is estimated to be around 5,600 light-years away from us.