NGC 1977 commonly known as The Running Man Nebula is part of the Orion Nebula complex thus about 1500 light-years distant. It carries three NGC numbers due to the dark lanes that make up the "running man", NGC 1973, 1975 and 1977. It is also Sh2-279 among other designations. How a nebula gets its common name is usually lost to history but in this case, the story goes that the experienced amateur, Jason Ware, a top astro imager, showed the nebula to a neighbor who said it looked like a running man. He ran the name by his astronomy club, the Texas Astronomical Society and the name stuck. This was some 20 years ago or so the story says.

14" LX200R @ f/10 L=6x5' RGB=3x5', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME