View allAll Photos Tagged ElephantsTrunkNebula,
Locations: Deep Sky West, Rowe, New Mexico, United States
PlaneWave17" CDK Telescope:
Elephant's Trunk Nebula: Grayscale, total of 11h.
L: 89x300sec
R: 21x300sec
G: 14x300sec
B: 9x300sec
Camera: FLI ML16803
Filter: Astrodon LRGB
Focal Length: 2939mm
Focal Ratio: f/6.7
Pixels: 9μm
Mount: Paramount Taurus 400
The Elephant's Trunk nebula or technically vdB 142 (Van den Berg 142), so named because of its similarity in appearance to a elephant’s trunk. The bright outline around the "trunk" is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star. The entire IC1396 region is ionized by this massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays. The Elephant's Trunk nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
This was done using the HST or Hubble Space Telescope Palette which is accomplished by combining sub frames using three narrowband filters that capture light produced by glowing hydrogen (Ha), oxygen (OIII) and sulfur (SII) present in the nebula. Green is assigned to hydrogen, blue to oxygen and red to the sulfur.
Acquisition Date: 11/08/2015 – 11/09/2015
Location: Western Massachusetts
Camera: SBIG STF8300M @ -15°C
Telescope: Stellarvue SV105T (f/7 – fl 735mm) reduced to f/5.6 (fl 588mm)
Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100
Guidescope: 60mm Stellarvue guide scope
Guide Camera: SBIG STi (mono)
Filters:
-Astrodon 3 nm Hydrogen Alpha (Ha): 11 x 30min. (390min.)
-Astrodon 3nm Oxygen III (OIII):08 x 30min. (240min)
-Astrodon 5nm Sulfur II (SII):07 x 30min. (210min)
Total Exposure:780min. (13.0hr)
Limiting Magnitude: 5.1
Comments: Stellarvue SFFR102 field flattener/reducer (0.8)
Started something completely new for me here. Ha-OIII Bicolour Version of Elephants Trunk Nebula in IC 1396.
ASI 2600 MC Pro - Skywatcher 150/750 PDS - NEQ 5
Optolong L-Extreme
Asiair & Mgen
51 x 600s
This image is a closeup of the elephant's trunk feature of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396). See image for context.
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x7 (RGB, S-II, Ha, O-III)
Tele Vue NP101is (4" f/4.3)
Losmandy G11
RGB Stars: 10 subs/filter x 30s = 15m
SHO Nebula
S-II: 12 x 600s (2:00)
Ha: 16 x 600s (2:40)
O-III:: 16 x 600s (2:40)
7:20 hours total SHO integration
Processed in PixInsight
Finished in Affinity Photo
2020 was an unusual year as we all know. It was a very busy year for me working on a 3D Animated Motion Capture Series and Music Video from home, and as a result I didn't manage to image much.
About the Nebula:
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust with-in the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 (located in the constellation Cepheus), about 2,400 light-years away from Earth.
Reprocessing old data:
I don't often do this, but decided to reprocess old data from 2017 in the SHO Palette (SII, Hα & OIII). IC 1396 was imaged on my first "budget friendly" Telescope (a 6" GSO Newtonian Astrograph). This was one of my first attempts at Narrowband Astrophotography, and the data that I captured back then was less than ideal, but a nice challenge to process. It is all part of the never ending lifelong learning experience.
I would like to revisit the IC 1396 region again, and image the very interesting surrounding structure with my wide-field APO Refractor Telescope. It is interesting to look back and see what you've learnt (which is why I've always kept my old learning images as a record).
Wavelengths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum of Light:
Hydrogen-Alpha (656.3nm)
Oxygen-III (500.7nm)
Sulfur-II (672.4nm)
Astrometry Info:
Center RA, Dec: 323.737, 57.633
Center RA, hms: 21h 34m 56.951s
Center Dec, dms: +57° 37' 59.617"
Size: 46.8 x 60.6 arcmin
Radius: 0.638 deg
Pixel scale: 2.02 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 269 degrees E of N
View an Annotated Sky Chart of this image.
View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.
&creditsUrl=&ra=323.554303&dec=57.565828&x=570.4&y=727.9&rotation=-88.59&thumb=http://nova.astrometry.net/image/9364353){kind=link}
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight, and finished in Photoshop (Starnet++ was also handy).
Gear and Tech Card:
See original 2017 image for more detail.
Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
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For this rendition of the 2-panel mosiac, I ran all of the subframes through the same PixInsight WBPP run so that they would all be at the same local normalization, I applied ChannelCombination to the RGB masters for each panel separately before merging the panels, and I produced separate star and nebula images before applying nonlinear stretches. The stars image was stretched delicately while the nebula image was stretched very agressively. I like the stars that resulted from this treatment.
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro
Tele Vue NP101is (4" f/5.4)
Losmandy G11
NINA for session management
PixInsight for processing
Each panel consisted of qty 8 240s subs each for RGB, and qty 16 subs for L. Total integration time was 2:20 per panel.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an emission nebula associated with IC 1396, a star cluster in the constellation Cepheus. This 6-panel mosaic spans approximately 4 degrees , about 8x the apparent width of the Moon. Image data was captured under dark skies near Goldendale, WA.
Telescope: Tele Vue 76mm
Mount: iOptron iEQ45 Pro
Camera: QSI 683wsg
Filter: Astrodon H-a CCD 5nm
Mosaic: 6 panels
Integration: 65 min (13 x 5 min) per panel.
Processing Software: PixInsight 1.8.8
On 22nd of April 2020 I was able to try out the Canon EOS 600D full spectrum with my Samyang 135mm f/2.0. It was a great night with very dark sky (SQM-L 21,63 mag/arcsec²) here in the Spreewald region of southern Brandenburg (Germany). This is IC 1396 with the Elefant's Trunk Nebula with Sharpless 129 and Barnard 169-71 in the constellation Cepheus.
[Canon EOS 600Dfs, Samyang 135 mm f/2, f/2.8, ISO-1600, 70x90s, APP+PS]
Update 01/08/2022
First light for my ASI294MC Pro
(now) 6.5 hours total integration time (195x120s, gain 230 + 20 darks, 20 flats and 30 bias frames, taken on three nights)
Optolong L-eNhance
William Optics RedCat 51
ASIAir Pro
ASI120MM mini guide camera
iOptron Sky Guider Pro
Apart from one night (which I wasn't able to take advantage of) we've been under more or less permanent cloud cover here in the glorious UK since 2 October. That's as bad as I can remember in the 5 years I've been doing this stuff. So, to preserve my sanity, I decided to reprocess my last image, again!
This is a false RGB version: Red - Ha, Blue - Olll, Green - provided by a Noel Carboni action. I also added a splash of the RGB version I did of this last year, plus the RGB stars from that image - hence the crop. :)
ED80 with 0.85 reducer, HEQ5 pro
Cooled mono Canon 450D
Astronomik 12nm Ha and Olll filters
10 x 1200 seconds Ha, 6 x 1200 seconds Olll, iso 1600
Calibrated and stacked in Nebulosity
Processed with Straton and CS5
This milkyway region is located northern part of the constellation Cygnus and shows numerous nebulas in the constellation Cepheus as well as the mighty dark cloud Le Gentil 3.
September 17th 2020 - Canon EOS 1000Da, Canon EF f1.8 STM, F/4, ISO-1600, 20x6 Min. on Skywatcher Staradventurer, APP + Adobe Photoshop CC 2020
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionised gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. (Wikipedia)
Reprocessed. Now also with coloured stars.
Narrowband image: 19-20-21/4/15
Oxfordshire, UK
4.3 Hours Total Exposure
Bin 1x1: 7x1200s Ha
Bin 2x2: 6x600s SII, 6x600s OIII
Equipment:
T: Takahashi FSQ106ED
C: QSI683ws Mono CCD, Astronomik Filters (6nm Ha)
M: Celestron Advanced Vx
G: QHY5-II
Acquisition and Processing:
PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro, CCDStack2, Photoshop CS6
2022-08-06 - Canon EOS 600Dfs, Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 STM, f4, ISO-1600, 26x7 min, on Skywatcher Star Adventurer, APP + PS 2022 CC
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. (Wikipedia)
Narrowband image: 19-20-21/4/15
Oxfordshire, UK
4.3 Hours Total Exposure
Bin 1x1: 7x1200s Ha
Bin 2x2: 6x600s SII, 6x600s OIII
Equipment:
T: Takahashi FSQ106ED
C: QSI683ws Mono CCD, Astronomik Filters (6nm Ha)
M: Celestron Advanced Vx
G: QHY5-II
Acquisition and Processing:
PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro, CCDStack2, Photoshop CS6
Imaging telescope or lens:GSO 8" f/5 Newton
Imaging camera:ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO
Mount:SkyWatcher NEQ6 Pro Goto
Guiding telescope or lens:GSO 8" f/5 Newton
Guiding camera:Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Focal reducer:Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element
Software:Adobe PhotoShop CS5, FitsWork 4, CCDCiel, DeepSky Stacker Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.4, PHD2 Guiding
Filters:Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm, Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm, Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm
Accessory:TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm
Dates:July 18, 2018, July 19, 2018, July 24, 2018
Frames:
Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm: 23x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm: 25x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm: 25x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 12.2 hours
Darks: 29
Flats: 29
Object description (wikipedia.org):
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the west of IC 1396A. (In the Figure above, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
Locations: Deep Sky West, Rowe, New Mexico, United States
PlaneWave17" CDK Telescope:
Elephant's Trunk Nebula: Grayscale, total of 11h.
L: 89x300sec
R: 21x300sec
G: 14x300sec
B: 9x300sec
Camera: FLI ML16803
Filter: Astrodon LRGB
Focal Length: 2939mm
Focal Ratio: f/6.7
Pixels: 9μm
Mount: Paramount Taurus 400
After a month of cloud I finally managed to gather some Olll for this image, but not enough. Fed up with waiting for the occasional gap in the clouds though, so decided to draw a line under it! :)
ED80 with 0.85 reducer, HEQ5 pro
Cooled mono Canon 450D
Astronomik 12nm Ha and Olll filters
10 x 1200 seconds Ha, 6 x 1200 seconds Olll, iso 1600
Calibrated and stacked in Nebulosity
Processed with Straton and CS5
Taken on a new Moon over 4 nights in Sulpher, Hydrogen and Oxygen mapped SHO 20 hours 10 min exp Asi 1600 mono Swed80 Heq5 Derwent Valley Durham UK
L(Ha)
R(SII)
G(Ha)
B(OIII)
Ha 600sx4 + OIII 600sx2 + SII + 600sx2
Processed in PixInsight and PS
SBIG STL-11000M
Takahashi FSQ-106
Paramount GT-1100S
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, IC1396A, is a combination of dark and emission nebulae in the constellation Cepheus and lies around 2400 light-years away. The trunk itself spans 20 light years shrouds many young protostars that are in the process of forming. It sits within the wider emission nebula IC1396.
Details:
Scope: TMB130SS
Camera: QSI690-wsg8
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Ultrastar
Mount: Mach1 GTO
RGB: 16x5min each
4 hrs total exposure
Description: This image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula IC 1396 was developed from 37x300s subs or 3.08 hours of total exposure time. A dual bandpass integrated image was first separated into Starless and Stars only images. The Starless image was split into its RGB components, which were individually boosted as appropriate, followed by the application of appropriate weighting factors to the individual RGB channels, further followed by LRGB Combination. The resulting image was then recombined with the Stars only image the result of which was post processed with various color masks using Curves Transformation to generate a final image.
Date / Location: 12 July 2023 / Washington D.C.
Equipment:
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain and 50 Offset
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guider: ZWO Off-Axis Guider
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 174mm mini
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Light Pollution Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme Dual Bandpass
Processing Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing:
I preprocessed 37x300s subs (= 3.08 hours) in Pixinsight to get an integrated image using the following process steps: Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and do a Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing:
Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (doing subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field correction) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing and additional steps:
Histogram Transformation > Star Xterminator to create Starless and Stars Only Images.
Starless Image > Noise Xterminator > Local Histogram Equalization > Multiscale Median Transform > Curves Transformation to boost O(III) and H-alpha signals > Split RGB channels > Create new green and blue channels > Boosted the channels as appropriate > LRGB Combination > Curves Transformation using various color masks.
Stars Only Image > Morphological transformation.
Pixel Math to combine the Starless Image with the Stars Only Image to get a Rejoined Image.
Rejoined Image > Dark Structure Enhancement > Topaz AI.
Pixel Math to combine the non-AI Rejoined Image with the Topaz AI Image to get a final image.
One of my favourite targets, a very large nebula with a star forming center feature and a lot going on.
The Elephant's trunk Nebula (IC1396) is located in the constellation Cepheus.
Taken multiple nights in September.
Thanks for viewing!
Technicals:
Nikon D5300 (non-modified)
24x720"
11x600"
ISO 400
ES 480mm/80mm
AZ-EQ5 Mount
Here's a selected set I've imaged/processed in 2017. Here's to a Happy New Year and clear skies for 2018! This has by far been the most productive year I’ve ever had. Total exposure on all these images was 133.4 hours.
Up in Smoke...
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a dense region of gas and dust seen in silhouette against a larger emission nebula. At the top of this object is a “globule” - a sphere of compressed material where star formation is actively proceeding. At the center of this body can be seen a pair of newborn stars whose stellar wind has cleared a small region within the globule. Also seen inside this clearing is a tiny emission nebula.
A blazing blue star above the elephant’s trunk (outside this image) is also blowing its own storm of stellar wind. This hurricane has torn material from the globule which is seen streaming toward the lower part of the image. This same stellar wind is inducing the leading edge of the globule to glow.
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula lies 2,500 light years distant in the direction of the constellation of Cepheus, the king.
This image was captured under high desert skies near Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA with a telescope of 12" aperture at f/4.5 and an electrically-cooled CCD camera. This false-colored image was taken through hydrogen-alpha (green), oxygen-III (blue), and Sulfur-II (red) narrow-band filters.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula or IC 1396 as it is otherwise known, but never with such a wide field of view, at a distance of around 2400 light years from earth and is mainly illuminated by a single bright star. It is thought that this region of space is home to a pretty young star forming region.
This image consists of the same data as the RGB Image but has been processed using my tutorial on creating SHO images from One Shot Colour Cameras which you can read here:
www.stastrophotography.com/creating-a-hubble-palette-imag...
RA: 21h39m00.01s
Dec: 57°29'24.00""
Constellation: Cepheus
Designation: IC1396
Image Details: 128x300S at Gain 100
Darks: 101 Frames
Flats: 101 Frames
Bias: 201 Frames
Acquisition Dates: Nov. 5, 2020 , Nov. 7, 2020 , Nov. 24, 2020 , Dec. 1, 2020 , Dec. 24, 2020 , Dec. 27, 2020
Total Capture time: 10.7 Hours
Equipment Details:
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro 62mpx Full Frame OSC
Imaging Scope: SharpStar 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph
Guide Camera: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2
Guide Scope: 365Astronomy 280mm Guide Scope
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso V2
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme 2"
Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro USB Ultimate Hub Pro
Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software. Sequence Generator Pro 3.2
Calibration and Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor
Processing Software: PixInsight 1.8.8 and EZ Processing Suite for Star Reduction
Imaging Dates:Sept. 20, 2019, Sept. 21, 2019, Sept. 28, 2019, Sept. 30, 2019, Dec. 20, 2019, Dec. 29, 2019
Frames:
Astronomik Ha 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik OIII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 8.5 hours
Darks: ~101
Flats: ~101
Flat darks: ~101
Avg. Moon age: 16.67 days
Avg. Moon phase: 29.01%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00
Imaging Scope: Sharpstar Optics 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph Reflector
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Mono ColdMOS at -20C
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Ltd Lodestar X2
Filters: Astronomik 36mm RGB F2.2 Certified
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro Ultimate USB Hub
Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso Auto Focuser
Image Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Guide Software: PHD 2
Processing Software: PixInsight
Imaging telescope or lens:Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED Triplet Super Apo
Imaging camera:ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO
Mount:SkyWatcher NEQ6 Pro Goto
Guiding telescope or lens:Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED Triplet Super Apo
Guiding camera:Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Focal reducer:Skywatcher Field flattener for Esprit 80mm
Software:Main Sequence Software Seqence Generator Pro, Adobe PhotoShop CS5, FitsWork 4, DeepSky Stacker Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.4, PHD2 Guiding
Filters:Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm, Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm, Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm
Accessory:TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm
Dates:May 14, 2019, May 23, 2019, May 29, 2019, June 1, 2019
Frames:
Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm: 44x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm: 27x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm: 25x600" (gain: 200.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 16.0 hours
Darks: ~50
Flats: ~27
Bias: ~100
Object description (wikipedia.org):
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the west of IC 1396A. (In the Figure above, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant's Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula or IC 1396 as it is otherwise known, but never with such a wide field of view, at a distance of around 2400 light years from earth and is mainly illuminated by a single bright star. It is thought that this region of space is home to a pretty young star forming region.
RA: 21h39m00.01s
Dec: 57°29'24.00""
Constellation: Cepheus
Designation: IC1396
Image Details: 128x300S at Gain 100
Darks: 101 Frames
Flats: 101 Frames
Bias: 201 Frames
Acquisition Dates: Nov. 5, 2020 , Nov. 7, 2020 , Nov. 24, 2020 , Dec. 1, 2020 , Dec. 24, 2020 , Dec. 27, 2020
Total Capture time: 10.7 Hours
Equipment Details:
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro 62mpx Full Frame OSC
Imaging Scope: SharpStar 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph
Guide Camera: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2
Guide Scope: 365Astronomy 280mm Guide Scope
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso V2
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme 2"
Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro USB Ultimate Hub Pro
Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software. Sequence Generator Pro 3.2
Calibration and Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor
Processing Software: PixInsight 1.8.8 and EZ Processing Suite for Star Reduction
This is part of the area designated IC 1396 in Cepheus, which includes The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, at the bottom, looking a tiny bit like an elephant's trunk :)
Long time since I did a collaboration with my frozen northern buddy Dave Williams. This is 5 hours of 300 second subs @iso 800 for the RGB (mainly R!) and Ha kindly provided by Dave and used as luminance.
A little noisy in places - the DSLR RGB input provides that, so not a lot I can do about it until the next kit upgrade on 12th Never. :)
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, designated IC1396 in the constellation Cepheus, is a vast cloud of ionized gas located 2400 light-years from Earth. Its distinctive name derives from the dark, trunk-like region of dust and gas situated slightly off-center to the lower right in this image. The photograph was captured using a RASA8 telescope equipped with a dual narrowband filter and a color astronomical camera. The SHO Hubble palette, as applied during processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop, enhances the nebula’s visual appeal.
About 25 Hours Exposure with Spacecat51 and ASI533 MC Pro set to -10 degree and Unitygain. Off-Axis Guiding with PHD2. Autofocus via Deepskydads AF3. SGPro for Acquisition. Processing in PixInsight
I used the Baader UHC-S Filter but it produces Halos around Stars. Next time I'll use my new Optolong L-Extreme Filter. But I am still happy with the result.
"The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a dense region of dust and gas found within the considerably larger star forming region IC 1396 in Cepheus constellation. Designated IC 1396A, the elongated globule of dust and gas was named the Elephant’s Trunk because it resembles an elephant’s head and trunk at visible wavelengths, appearing as a dark patch with a bright winding rim. It is located at a distance of 2,400 light years from Earth."
i captured this image with my William Optics FLT132, FLAT8 0.72x reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera and ZWO AM5 mount. I used the Antlia Triband RGB Ultra for around 2 hours and then the Optolong L-Ultimate narrowband filter for another 6 hours, with a total 8 hours integration time over two consecutive nights (in 180 and 300 second subs).
Pre and post processed in PixInsight, with final touches in Affinity Photo 2. i used the GeneralizedHyperbolicStretch (ghsastro.co.uk) in PixInsight, which was super useful in extracting/showing the dust clouds in this image. This is the SHO palette with RGB stars.
See the HOO palette version here: flic.kr/p/2pNwVfG
More acquisition details and different versions of the image (variations on the palette) in Astrobin: astrob.in/sl7sof/D/
Thanks for looking
I took on Elephant Trunk as my first serious, multi-night imaging project. This image is from 128 60s subs (2h08m total integration time) taken during two night's work in luminance only. Processing in PixInsight consists of cropping, and heavy histogram and curves stretches.
It appears that many more hours of integration will be required to get a decent image.
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro/EFW 7 x 2"
TeleVue NP101is
Losmandy G11
In the constellation of Cepheus lies the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, I have successfully imaged this before but decided to re-image using the SharpStar 15028HNT
Image Details:
Dates:Dec. 29, 2012, Sept. 20, 2019, Sept. 21, 2019, Sept. 28, 2019, Sept. 30, 2019, Oct. 8, 2019, Dec. 4, 2019, Dec. 6, 2019, Dec. 8, 2019, Dec. 20, 2019
Frames:
Astronomik Ha 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik OIII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik SII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 12.7 hours
Darks: ~101
Flats: ~101
Flat darks: ~101
Avg. Moon age: 15.06 days
Avg. Moon phase: 54.62%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00
Imaging Scope: Sharpstar Optics 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph Reflector
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Mono ColdMOS at -20C
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Ltd Lodestar X2
Filters: Astronomik 36mm RGB F2.2 Certified
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro Ultimate USB Hub
Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso Auto Focuser
Image Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Guide Software: PHD 2
Processing Software: PixInsight
Some binned SII and OIII...added to the Ha from the other day.
The OIII is weak link here...but I think it provides a background gradient...not well seen here.
(5x900 and 5x1500 seconds SII/OIII respectively,binned)
Camera running at -30C
They both need flats ...
Hubble color scheme.
Reprocess (version 2) here;
03 Sep 2021 - 22 Aug 2022
Lens: William Optics GT81 IV
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Mount: iOptron CEM25p
Guiding camera: ZWO 120MM Mini
Total 9.8hr exposure
Starless version
Image Details:
Dates:Dec. 29, 2012, Sept. 20, 2019, Sept. 21, 2019, Sept. 28, 2019, Sept. 30, 2019, Oct. 8, 2019, Dec. 4, 2019, Dec. 6, 2019, Dec. 8, 2019, Dec. 20, 2019
Frames:
Astronomik Ha 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik OIII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik SII 6nm: 51x300" (gain: 11.00) -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 12.7 hours
Darks: ~101
Flats: ~101
Flat darks: ~101
Avg. Moon age: 15.06 days
Avg. Moon phase: 54.62%
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00
Imaging Scope: Sharpstar Optics 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph Reflector
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Mono ColdMOS at -20C
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Ltd Lodestar X2
Filters: Astronomik 36mm RGB F2.2 Certified
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro Ultimate USB Hub
Focuser: Primalucelab Sesto Senso Auto Focuser
Image Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Guide Software: PHD 2
Processing Software: PixInsight
A region of star formation 2400 light-years from Earth. The Elephant's Trunk itself is the long dark structure just to the bottom-left of centre in this image. It is part of a much larger nebula called IC1396, which fills the frame.
* May and June 2021
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8 )
* Telescope: Askar FRA400 f/5.6 Quintuplet APO Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme
* Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
* Guide: William Optics 32mm; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Control: ASIAIR PRO
* Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom, Topaz DeNoise AI
* 480 x 120 seconds
------------------------------------------------------------
Total integration time: 16 hours
------------------------------------------------------------
By Lee Pullen
2h15m Total (45m Ha, SII, OIII). Takahashi FSQ106ED
QSI683ws Mono CCD
Astronomik Ha (6nm), SII, OIII filters
QHY5-II Guide Camera
PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro, CCDStack, Photoshop CS6
Guess who got an ED80 for his birthday then? :)
This is my first half successful attempt at using the thing with my new go-faster budget guiding kit :) Guiding was fine, but I ran out of vis towards the end, and as the Reading Fest had just kicked off, I had to contend with searchlights passing through the frame every 20 seconds or so! So on that basis, this ain't too bad - even though it needed a little encouragement during the processing :) Horrendously noisy, hence the small image :)
SW ED80/EQ5
Nikon D70 modded, iso 1250, Baader Neodymium filter
15 x 6 mins for a total of 1 hour 30 minutes
Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD
Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5
First Narrowband Imaging Attempt. Low signal-to-noise. Altair Wave 80 + Atik 460EX + EFW2 + Baader Narrowband Filters.
SII : 2 hrs 55 min
Ha: 2 hrs 5 min
OIII: 1 hr 35 min
(reprocess from 8AM image...)
First try at tricolor with the ST10...newe camera with higher sensitivity.
Moon out but impatient
Sort of surprised/puzzled/horrified to see that the snr (in OIII and SII) is no great shakes...
And the ADU for the SII,OIII with 3nm filters is WAY less than the 9 (?) nm Ha filter..
So I am a bit puzzled..they were fairly similar with the ST2000....
Will add the old 9nm OIII and do a direct comparison.Maybe its a better choice somehow...
Head scratching,a bit
Anyways...
This is 4-6 exposures @ 1200 seconds, and the OIII is 1500.
A nicer version,same color assignments
IC 1396 and VdB142
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
(J2000) RA: 21h 39.1m Dec: +57° 30′
IC 1396 is larger ionized gas region located in Cepheus at about 2,400 light years. The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star HD 206267, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.
In the center of the nebula is located, in fact, VdB142 (also IC 1396A); it is commonly called the Elephant's Trunk nebula.
The brighter portions of this huge nebula in Cepheus are visible through a telescope under dark skies, but it takes a long exposure photograph to capture all the fine detail and faint extents seen here. Many dark globules of dust permeate this region, notably the "Elephant's Trunk" seen protruding in from the left. The very bright star near the bottom is Herschell's "Garnet Star."