IC 1396

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Date
2012/12/16

Observation place
New Mexico

Technical

TelescopeTakahashi FSQ 106ED - Diam. 106 mm (4,2 ″), foca. 530 mm, f / 5 
MountParamount ME
Imaging cameraSBIG STL 11000 regulated at -15o Celsius
Image typeHa (RVsB) (Vs for synghetic green)
ExhibitionHa (11 x 10 'bin 1 × 1), RB (4 x 3' bin 2 × 2 each)
PretreatmentMaxim DL
TreatmentPhotoshop and PixInsight
Specific treatmentCreate a synthetic green image

Object description

Object typeEmission nebula "The elephant's trunk nebula"
ConstellationCepheus
Visual magnitude6
DistanceDistance: 3000 light years
Dimension seen from Earth170 x 140 arc minutes
IC 1396 contains the Elephant Trunk Nebula (VDB number 142 in the Van Den Berg catalog) seen in the image, center bottom of the image. IC1396 is a large emission nebula that is 3 to 5 times the diameter of the full moon as seen from Earth. The bright yellow star to the right of the image is Garnet, which is a red giant. Its diameter is 2536 times larger than our Sun.  

This region rich in gas and dust promotes the formation of new stars. Indeed, very recently, more than 100 young stars were discovered in the process of forming in this nebula.  

It is a very beautiful nebula to photograph. On the other hand, despite its visual magnitude of 6, the gases and dust of the nebula are hardly visible in a telescope. To bring out all the beautiful nuances and contrasts of the nebula, I devoted an exposure time in H-Alpha luminance of 1,83 hours with times of 10 minutes per photo (11 x10 '= 1,83 H) .
Richard Beauregard
Sky Astro - CCD
My impression "We cannot be alone in this gigantic universe"