Flickr-IC1396_v2 - PS-August 30, 2020

Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC1396), 08/18/2020

 

This was a fun night and an unexpected result. I took my equipment out to my favorite dark sky location to camp and capture photons. I was looking forward to showing off my hobby to my wife and some friends who were camping as well. I got my gear setup and took my first capture, but the frame was very faint and unexciting. Kind of boring. Oh well. Everything else was going well so I decided to stick with it and see. The next day I did a quick stack and process and DAMN there was a ton of detail there after all! I did not quite get the framing right but that only means I have a reason to try this one again.

 

I don’t know how someone saw an elephant trunk when looking at this but hey you discover it, you get to name it I guess. It is found in the constellation of Cepheus and is about 2,400 light-years from us. The “trunk” itself is over 20 light-years long. In 2003 several very young stars where discovered in the circular cavity in the tip of the trunk. The stellar wind from these hot young stars may have carved out this hole.

 

Equipment:

RASA 8

CGEM-dx mount

ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

ZWO Asiair Pro

Optolong L-Pro filter

 

Details:

Location – Buck Creek Campground, WA

Bortle Class 3

Gain 120

40 300-second Lights

60 Darks

60 Bias

60 Flats

Astro Pixel Processor

Lightroom

Photoshop

 

#astrophotography #astronomy #comos #nightphotography #space #telescope #deepsky #asi294mcpro #amateurastronomy #backyardastronomy #asiair #asiairpro #rasa #celestron #astropixelprocessor #optolong #telescope #astronomyphotography #deepskyobject #zwo #longexposurephotography #IC1396 #elephanttrunknebula

 

Done