IC 2944/48 lies between the Southern Cross and Eta Carina. A region of emission clouds that looks quite uniform. It is a very active and rich zone of star formation. The open cluster in the upper left side is IC 2944. It shows very young stars at about 5900 light years away.
The black spots also in the middle left side of the image are intriguing objects. They were discovered by South African astronomer A.D. Thackeray. The larger has a diameter of 1 light year and it mass is equivalent to 15 times our Sun. Those types of black spots are also known as Bok Globules. They are present in many objects like The Lagoon Nebula.
The image was taken with a 6 inches Newtonian with f5 Orion UK Optics and a QSI 583 WS riding in a NEQ6 mount. Total exposure time 2 and ½ hours LHaRGB (60,30,20,20,20). Site Mercedes, Buenos Aires Argentina