With bright glowing eyes and a swirl of crimson, the chicken concealed in the Lambda Centauri nebula looks ready to pummel some pigs in a game of Angry Birds. The new shot from the European Southern Observatory shows hot newborn stars that formed from hydrogen gas clouds glowing brightly with ultraviolet light. The intense radiation excites the hydrogen cloud, making it glow red.
Visible against the red clouds, black clumps called Bok globules dot the frame and conceal stars within.
Known playfully as the "running chicken" nebula, the bird's roost is some 6500 light years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. But where does the chicken end? If you think you can make out its exact outline, submit your guess to the observatory's Flickr group for a chance at a prize.