IC 1396 - The Elephant's Trunk Nebula

An area of gas and dust in the Cepheus region, ionised by ultra violet radiation from the massive triple star system HD 206267.  

This is a star forming region and some of the stars in the "Trunk" are very young, perhaps only 100,000 years old. The solar wind from these young stars is pushing gas and dust away from them and creating the hole at the tip of the trunk.

Size: 20 Light Years
Distance from Earth: 2400 Light Years
Target  : IC1396 The Elephant's Trunk Nebula
Date    : 2022-10-04

Scope   : CFF 135/926
Mount   : EQ6R-Pro (DFO StellarDrive)
Camera  : QHY600 Lite
Filters : Chroma (3nm)
  • Ha   : 20 x 600s
  • OIII : 23 x 600s
  • SII  : 22 x 600s
	  
Total Integration : 10.8 hours

Data capture during four sessions in August and September. 
2017-08-26 IC1396 Elephants Trunk Nebula
Target  : The Elephant's Trunk Nebula 
Date    : 2017-08-26

Scope   : SW Esprit 80/400
Mount   : HEQ5 
Camera  : SX814
Filters : Baader
  • Ha   :  4 x 1200s
  • OIII :  4 x 1200s

          
Total Integration : 2.6 hours

This is a bicolour image using only Ha and OIII data which results in the gold colouring.   
2017-08-19 IC1396 Elephants Trunk Nebula
2017-08-19

Scope   : SW Esprit 80/400
Mount   : HEQ5 
Camera  : SX814
Filters : Baader
  • Lum  :  8 x 240s
  • Red  :  8 x 240s
  • Green:  8 x 240s
  • Blue :  5 x 240s

Total Integration : 1.9 hours

2017-06-17 IC1396 Elephants Trunk
2017-06-17

Scope   : SW Esprit 80/400
Mount   : HEQ5 
Camera  : Nikon D750 (unmodded)
Filters : None
  • OSC  :  9 x 600s

Total Integration : 1.5 hours

This is a wide field view which includes the Elephants Trunk nebula. Not easy to see but the Trunk is just above the bright star near the centre of the image.