The Elephant’s Trunk is a dense, elongated cloud of gas inside a bright cluster of stars known as IC 1396 in the constellation Cepheus. The trunk conceals many young protostars that are in the process of forming and there are a number of very young stars — less than 100,000 years old. This rendition is a combination of narrowband data from 2017 and recent captures of LRGB.
The Elephant’s Trunk – IC 1396
Telescope: 16″ f3.75 Dream Scope
Camera: FLI ML16803
Mount: ASA DDM85
Exposure: 16 hours (2x64x300s Ha & O3 + 29x300s L + 3x11x300s RGB)
Date: August 2017 (Narrowband) – August 2020 (LRGB)
Location: Southern Alps, France
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Bart Delsaert - Astrophotography 