Emission Nebulae in Centaurus is the topic of Part #4 of our image presentation, where we want to share the results from our astrophotography-trip to DeepSkySafaris in Namibia.

The striking constellation Centaurus stands high in the sky just above the Milky Way in Namibia in May. Centaurus is known on the one hand for its brightest star, alpha Centauri, whose companion Proxima Centauri is the nearest star. On the other hand, Centaurus is also home to large and well-known emission nebulae like IC 2948, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. With a little more research, even lesser known objects like RCW 85 or Gum 48d can be added to the photographic "to do list". Even with the big classics like IC 2948 it is worth to have a look at the details, here at the Thackeray's Globules in the center of the nebula. They are potential sites for the formation of new stars, but are likely being eroded by the intense radiation from the nearby young stars.