IC1396, Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
This is an immense emission nebula combined with an open star cluster. It contains the well-known Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (catalogued as vdB 142), a dark, dense globule of gas and dust that is a very active star-forming region. vdB 142 lies roughly in the south-central area of the full IC1396 complex. This vast complex glows thanks to powerful stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation from a massive central star (the multiple-star system HD 206267), which is sweeping away and clearing the surrounding gas. It lies approximately 2,400 light-years from Earth. Although its surface brightness is quite faint to the unaided eye, it spans an enormous apparent diameter in the night sky: hundreds of light-years from end to end and a celestial area much larger than the full Moon.
General information
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Category
- Nebulae
- Date
- 17 June 2026
Capture
- Total time
- 5h 42min
- Subframes
- 360s / (Ha: 30x + OIII: 27x) bin1
- Gain / Offset
- 125 / 30
- Calibration
- 30 flat frames, 30 dark-flat frames and 40 library dark frames, without bias frames.
Equipment
- Telescope
- TS102 f/5.6
- Camera
- ASI294MM at -10ºC
- Filters
- Ha and OIII Astronomik, 6 nm
- Mount
- Sky Watcher Wave 150i
- Guiding
- PHD2, Guide scope 60mm/f4 + ASI220MM + PegasusAstro UCH + PPBMicro
- Focuser
- ZWO EAF focuser
- Filter wheel
- ZWO EFW 7pos
Processing and environment
- Processing
- PixInsight 1.9.4
- Acquisition
- NINA
- Location
- l'Ampolla
- Sky
- Bortle 4