Elephant Trunk
A dark cloud curling into the bright emission of IC 1396.
- Object
- IC 1396A
- Captured
- Published
About
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) is a dense cloud of gas and dust located approximately 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Part of the much larger IC 1396 emission nebula, its distinctive trunk-like shape has been sculpted over time by intense radiation and stellar winds from nearby massive stars. These forces gradually erode the surrounding material while compressing denser regions, creating conditions for new stars to form. In fact, several young stars are already forming deep within the cloud, making the Elephant’s Trunk an active stellar nursery.
Commentary
Lately, I’ve been focusing less on massive data-gathering efforts spanning multiple nights and more on what I can pull from a target in a single session.
This image represents about 5 hours and 30 minutes of integration on the Elephant’s Trunk, captured through my Astro-Physics 110GTX and ZWO ASI2600MM Pro using Chroma SHO narrowband filters.
I’m quite pleased with the level of detail I was able to capture in a single night, though the framing is really starting to push me toward upgrading from my APS-C mono camera to a full-frame sensor.
Target & sky
- Object / designation
- IC 1396A
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Right ascension
- 21h36m58s
- Declination
- +57° 31′ 13″
- Field of view
- 2.06° × 1.62°
- Image scale
- 1.41″/px
- Palette
- Hubble palette (SHO)
- Imaging site
- Backyard
- Bortle class
- 5
Integration
| Channel | Frames | Exposure | Duration | Capture nights | Camera settings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hα | 26 | 300s | 2h 10m |
| |
| OIII | 20 | 300s | 1h 40m |
| |
| SII | 20 | 300s | 1h 40m |
| |
| Total integration | 5h 30m | ||||
- Channel
- Hα
- Frames
- 26
- Exposure
- 300s
- Duration
- 2h 10m
- Capture nights
- Gain (camera setting)
- 100
- Offset (camera setting)
- 50
- Sensor temperature
- -10 °C
- Channel
- OIII
- Frames
- 20
- Exposure
- 300s
- Duration
- 1h 40m
- Capture nights
- Gain (camera setting)
- 100
- Offset (camera setting)
- 50
- Sensor temperature
- -10 °C
- Channel
- SII
- Frames
- 20
- Exposure
- 300s
- Duration
- 1h 40m
- Capture nights
- Gain (camera setting)
- 100
- Offset (camera setting)
- 50
- Sensor temperature
- -10 °C
Total integration5h 30m
Equipment
- Telescope / OTA
- Astro-Physics 110mm f6 StarFire GTX
- Camera
- ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro
- Mount
- 10Micron GM1000 HPS
- Filters
- Chroma 50mm Unmounted H-alpha 3nm Bandpass
- Chroma 50mm Unmounted OIII 3nm Bandpass
- Chroma 50mm Unmounted SII 3nm Bandpass
- Reducer
- Astro-Physics 0.83x Telecompressor Corrector (110TCC)
- Effective focal length
- 550 mm
- Effective focal ratio
- f/5
Software
- Processing/Stacking
- Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
- Processing
- Adobe Lightroom
- dark nebula
- emission nebula
- Cepheus