10x30mm Canon IS (3/28/19 - Tasmania): prominent region in 10x30 binoculars. Includes Lambda Centauri and 4 bright stars in a string to the southeast. These stars are involved in an extremely large nebulous haze (unfiltered).

Royal H. Frost discovered IC 2944 = F. 789, along with IC 2948, on a 24-inch photographic plate taken at the Arequipa station on 5 May 1904. He noted nebulosity but not the scattered cluster. Images reveal several interesting dark blobs called Thackeray's Globules (dense star forming regions). The IC designations refer to different parts of the same HII complex. See Harold Corwin's notes on this object.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/18/04 - Costa Rica): this is a bright and fascinating HII region southeast of Lambda Centauri using an OIII filter and 20mm Nagler combination! Surrounds open cluster Cr 249, which is encased in nebulosity. Additional haze extends beyond the cluster towards the southeast for several arcminutes. At this point there is a sharp bend and a bright section of nebulosity extends to the north. This section is wider and brighter than other regions. The brightest sections roughly form a huge "7" shape, perhaps 30' in size! This object is referred to as the "Running Chicken Nebula" and photographs reveal several embedded Bok globules.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb