VDB 142/IC 1396A - Cepheus

Object Data: VDB 142/IC 1396A also known as the the Elephant Trunk Nebula is a spectacular star forming region about 2,400 light years distant in the constellation of Cepheus, forming part of the larger IC 1396 emission nebula complex. It consists of ionized gas, dust, and reflection nebula. The name Elephant Trunk derives from the long dark dust lane. The 'eye' at the eastern end of the 'trunk' has an especially intriguing and somewhat eerie appearance. I have found very little reference to this but presumably it is due to a newly formed star having blown off the surrounding dust, revealing a luminous circle of reflection nebula with patches of both emission and reflection nebulae. Date: 02/06/2005 Location: Southern France Conditions: Calm, no dew, transparency=8, seeing=8 Optics: Astro-Physics 155 EDF f/7 working at f/7 Mount: AP 900 GTO on Portable Pier Camera: SBIG ST-8E / CFW-8 Guiding: Integral ST-8E autoguider Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 8x 15 minutes; RGB: 1x 15:15:15 minutes binned 2x2 Processing: Image acquisition and initial processing using Maxim DL, subsequent processing in RegiStar and Photoshop. Notes: Not enough exposure, especially RGB but I will improve on this next time.