IC 1396 HOO – Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
IC 1396 is an immense emission nebula associated 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 IC 1396 complex. This vast region glows because of powerful stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation from the multiple-star system HD 206267, which is sweeping away and dispersing the surrounding gas. It lies about 2,400 light-years from Earth. Although its surface brightness is quite faint, it covers an apparent area in the sky much larger than the full Moon. This image combines hydrogen-alpha and doubly ionised oxygen emissions in an HOO palette.
General information
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Category
- Nebulae
- Date
- 17 June 2026
- Capture sessions
- 18 Jul 2023 — l'Ampolla
26 Jul 2023 — l'Ampolla
17 Jun 2026 — l'Ampolla
Capture
- Total time
- 8h 17min
- Subframes
- 360s (Ha: 30x, OIII: 27x) bin1; 300s (Ha: 10x, OIII: 21x) 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 -10 °C
- Filters
- Ha and OIII Astronomik, 6 nm
- Mount
- Sky-Watcher Wave 150i
- Guiding
- PHD2, Guide scope 60mm f/4 + ASI220MM + PegasusAstro UCH + PPBMicro
- Focuser
- ZWO EAF
- Filter wheel
- ZWO EFW 7 positions
Processing and environment
- Processing
- Stacked and post-processed with PixInsight 1.9.5
- Acquisition
- NINA
- Location
- l'Ampolla
- Sky
- Bortle 4