The European Southern Observatory has released detailed images of the Galloping Nebula, located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Centauri. This 1.5 billion pixel image taken by the VST highlights young stars and regions such as IC2948 and IC2944, providing a visual feast for the universe.

The Galloping Nebula is made up of multiple clouds, all of which can be seen in this huge image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site. The 1.5-billion-pixel image spans an area of ​​the sky that spans about 25 full moons. Shown as wisps of pink plumes, the clouds are filled with gas and dust and illuminated by the young, hot stars within them. Image source: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgments: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Many traditional holidays include feasts such as turkey, soba noodles, scones or pasgua pancakes, but this year the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has a festive surprise for you. In this 1.5 billion pixel image taken by the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, we see the so-called Running Chicken Nebula in spectacular detail.

This massive stellar nursery is located in the constellation Centauri, about 6,500 light-years from Earth. Young stars in the nebula emit intense radiation that causes the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow pink.

The Galloping Nebula is actually made up of multiple regions, all of which we can see in this massive image spanning about 25 full moons. The brightest area in the nebula is called IC2948, and some people see the chicken's head here, while others think it is the chicken's tail. The ethereal pink outlines are ethereal plumes of gas and dust. In the center of the image, there is a bright vertical structure, almost like a pillar, which is IC2944. The brightest twinkling star in this special region is Lambda Centauri, a star visible to the naked eye that is much closer to us than the nebula itself.

The Galloping Nebula is made up of multiple clouds, the most prominent of which is highlighted in this huge image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site. The bright star labeled Lambda Centauri is actually closer to us than the nebula itself and can be seen with the naked eye. Wisps of pink plumes filled with gas and dust are illuminated by the young, hot stars within them. In total, the image spans an area of ​​the sky with about 25 full moons, one of which is shown to scale for reference. Image source: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgments: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

However, IC2948 and IC2944 themselves also contain many young stars—and while they may be bright, they are certainly not happy. As they spit out huge amounts of radiation, they fragment their surroundings. Certain regions of the nebula, known as Bokglobules, are resistant to being bombarded by ultraviolet radiation. If you zoom in on the image, you might see them: small, dark, dense clumps of dust and gas dotting the entire nebula.

Other areas in the figure include gels 39 and 40 in the upper right, and gel 41 in the lower right. In addition to nebulae, there are countless orange, white and blue stars, like fireworks in the sky. In short, the wonders in this picture are too numerous to describe - zoom in and pan, and you will enjoy a visual feast.

This 3D animation of the Galloping Nebula imagines what it would be like to fly close to these swirling clouds of gas and dust. This video is based on actual images taken by the VLT Survey Telescope at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site; however, the 3D positions of the stars shown here are for reference only. Image source: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgments: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

The image is a large mosaic painstakingly stitched together from hundreds of individual images. These individual images were taken through filters that transmit different colors of light, which were then combined into the final result shown in this article. The telescope is owned by Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and hosted by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Paranal, Chile's Atacama Desert. The data used to create this mosaic is part of the VST Southern Galaxy Plane and Bulge Photometric Hα Survey (VPHAS+), a project designed to better understand the life cycles of stars.

This star map shows the location of the Galloping Nebula (IC2944) in the great southern constellation The Centaur. This image shows most of the stars visible to the naked eye under good conditions, with the location of the nebula itself marked in red. Although the star cluster associated with this nebula, IC 2948, is easily visible in small telescopes, the nebula is very faint and was only discovered through photographs in the early 20th century. Source: ESO, IAU and Sky&Telescope