At the Heart of IC 2948 the “Running Chicken Nebula” are large clouds of gas and dust as this region produces newborn stars in what we call a “ Star Factory.”  In the upper left corner are a series of Boc globules that remind us of many solar systems like our own, floating in interstellar space. It’s the brightest emission and reflection nebulae in the constellation of Centaurus and lies around 6,500 light-years away.