IC 2948 is the region of nebulosity surrounding the star Lambda Centauri. The associated star cluster is IC 2944.
Discovered by Royal Harvard Frost in 1906-8, this object is also dubbed the "Running Chicken Nebula."
IC 2948 is a large (40'), almost featureless emission nebula between the the Southern Cross and the rich Carina region, around the star Lambda Centauri. Against this uniform, bright backdrop we see a small group of dark clouds known as 'Bok globules'. They are named for the Dutch-American astronomer who first drew attention to them as possible sites of star formation.
The Bok Globules discovered in IC 2948 by South African astronomer A. David Thackeray in 1950 are now known as Thackeray's Globules. These dark markings are discrete, opaque dust clouds, the largest containing enough material to form several stars the mass of the sun. The globules are not some line-of-sight coincidence; the brightened rim of the largest clearly shows it to be associated with the nebulosity of IC 2948, at a distance of about 6000 light years. The nebula spans about 70 light-years.
IC 2944 is a site of active star formation, with a sprinkling of bright stars. It is also cataloged as Collinder 249. It has an apparent diameter of 75', and a visual magnitude of 4.5 (but this is heavily weighted by Lambda Centauri, which is not a member.) Patrick Moore incorrectly labelled IC 2944 as the Gamma Centauri cluster in his original Caldwell Catalog of 1995.