Nestled in the heart of the extensive emission nebula IC
1396, is the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula—IC 1396A. Images of the Elephant’s Trunk
show a dark, elongated cloud illuminated at the edges. This glow is being
energized by the massive star, HD 2062067. While many of the stars in this
region are very young (c. 100,000 years old), stellar winds from two somewhat older
stars in the tip of the Trunk appear to have cleared out the cavity in which
they sit. The Trunk itself is around 20 light years long.
My first image of the Elephant’s Trunk was taken years ago
with my 14 inch ACF, a DSm camera, and an H II filter. I could just make out
the faint outline of the trunk against the image background. The imaging
advances in the last few years have been astonishing, and highly sensitive CMOS
imagers make IC 1396A a much more accessible object.
IC 1396 is a region of subtle contrasts and colors. In my
opinion, many images force contrast too high to give the Trunk more of a 3D
aspect. Much of the delicate haziness of the nebula is lost. In the images below,
I have tried to preserve this subtlety while bringing out the detail in the
nebula itself.
Tech Card: RASA 8; DS10C; NBZ filter. Total integration time, 100 minutes (mix of 40- and 50-second integrations).
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