Photo of the Week for October 12, 2018
Cepheus the king rules the northeast sky on autumn evenings. Despite the constellation’s circumpolar status, it’s often overlooked because it lacks even a single Messier object. But there are treasures aplenty—especially if you seek them with a camera.
One of the crown jewels of Cepheus, at least for imagers, is the expansive patch of nebulosity catalogued as IC1396. It’s situated just south of Mu (μ) Cephei—a stellar gem better known as Herschel’s Garnet Star, owing to its ruddy hue. Both the nebula and star are presented regally in this photo by Dan Chervenka. Mu is at bottom left, while the dark protuberance known as the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (sometimes catalogued as IC1396A) is positioned above centre.
Dan captured this view of IC1396 on September 8, while attending the this year’s Alberta Star Party, held at the Starland Recreation Area in Starland County, Alberta. He used a Sky-Watcher Esprit 100mm apochromatic refractor telescope (equipped with a field flattener) and a Nikon D810A DSLR camera.
