RCW 61 is a part of what is termed the Running Chicken Nebula.
RCW 61 is an emission nebula which is ionized by three giant O9 stars and three B class stars. The H alpha and SII components are very strong, with OIII being quite faint. There is a very slight reflection component on the central star which shines blue in this image. O type stars are very volatile and short lived usually ending as supernova’s or collapsing into a black hole.
Imaged in SHO narrowband with RGB for star color on our Planewave CDK 700 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image Processing: Mike Selby