Running Chicken, Lambda Cen objects

astrospotter (Mark) · #1 12-03-2011, 10:48 PM

Two thoughts. Has anyone read or learned that the IC2948 'Running Chicken' nebula is really the same nebula as it's western neighbors of Gum41, IC2872 and Gum39?

With deep pictures the seem to be all connected but optically the very faint stuff is never really seen between them.

Second question has been bothering me for over a year now. I am serious on this and I need to know this. How does one turn this image to make it look like a running chicken and are those other nebula I mentioned part of this chicken thing or not? I just don't get it but I am a 'city boy' as they say and have rarely seen a chicken running.

I would like any takes on either of the two questions above and sorry to post this here but I just could not find a better forum to ask as both questions require a lot of experience to have encountered the answers.

Thanks,
mark

Paddy (Patrick) · #2 13-03-2011, 02:01 PM

Hi Mark,

Can't really answer the questions about connectivity etc. Night Sky Observers Guide lists it all as one nebula. When I look at this image, http://www.pbase.com/gbachmayer/image/64396952 the head is to the right, foot to the lower right and body to the left.

astroron (Ron) · #3 13-03-2011, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paddy

Hi Mark,

Can't really answer the questions about connectivity etc. Night Sky Observers Guide lists it all as one nebula. When I look at this image, http://www.pbase.com/gbachmayer/image/64396952 the head is to the right, foot to the lower right and body to the left.

I don't see it as a chicken

And we give the ancients a Hard time for giving the constellations names we cannot see any shape in

Barrykgerdes · #4 13-03-2011, 03:29 PM

If you get the full 2 degrees you can see the "chicken". Most of the pictures I have seen are pictures of ic2944, the chickens body. You need a 2 degree field centered on HP56561.

See the attached 2 degree FOV screen shot from Stellarium Virgo of the DSS image. This shows the chickens head and feet as well as the body.

Barry

astroron (Ron) · #5 13-03-2011, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

If you get the full 2 degrees you can see the "chicken". Most of the pictures I have seen are pictures of ic2944, the chickens body. You need a 2 degree field centered on HP56561.

See the attached 2 degree FOV screen shot from Stellarium Virgo of the DSS image. This shows the chickens head and feet as well as the body.

Barry

Thanks Barry

but a real bit of "Averted Imagination" is required I think

Cheers

Barrykgerdes · #6 13-03-2011, 07:28 PM

By the way. Did you know that to catch a running chicken you put salt on its tail.

That is something I learnt over 70 years ago from the Cerebos salt tin picture!

Baz

astrospotter (Mark) · #7 13-03-2011, 08:18 PM

Thanks guys. Those explanations seem as good as any, I was just not getting it at all before.

And Barry: As for the salt, 'I'll just log that away for future reference'

I should share my 12" observation for all that effort you all helped with. This for very dark skies in Arkaroola almost exactly a year ago. I describe 2 distinct obvious sections of nebuloscity relative to a 16' long thin upper case A set of stars with a 5' wide base and this A top points to the NW. I made two observations, one with NPB filter and one with OIII. I bet the NPB one is better but it was too difficult to understand what I meant by the time I got back to the states to transcribe the tape due to wind and my description was not easy to follow on the NPB observation.

From March 17, 2010 (St Patricks day, or perhaps on this board 'Saint Paddy' day

)

RunningChickenNebula: OIII Filter. Lambda Cen to left of view. A couple small clumps of stars are in the center from right to left orientation. These are the top and the 'high' cross member of a an upper case A with the top pointing to the left [NW]. This is a very tall A [16']. Starting above the high central cross member of the A which points up [1.6' cross-bar of this A] is the start of a very broad nebulous area that forms a large triangle with one tip pointing to the left [NW]. This nebulous triangle has ended before we get to the base of the big A to the right. It is dark above [SE] the base of the A which is vertical in the view for the base. Below the base of the big A there is a big elongated section of nebulosity with a width about the size of the base of the A [5'] running along what would be the left side of the big A but down at a 45 degree angle [North] for at least half the height of the A [8']. There seems to be more nebulous area even farther off to the right of the base of the A. [I described this in reference to a big letter A with the open base to the right which would be south-east. The description was in terms of my view, never with actual directions but the field of view would be a 90' field size and North would have been 7:30pm sort of area. I insert lengths and dimensions if I mention lengths relative to the characteristics of this big 'A']