Photo of the Week for December 30, 2016
IC1396 is a large patch of nebulosity located in Cepheus. It extends south from the deep-red star Mu Cephei, also known as Herschel’s Garnet star. In the photo above, the Elephant Trunk Nebula (sometimes catalogued as IC1396A) is the nebulous protrusion extending from the bottom edge to the centre. The delicate Elephant Trunk is believed to be a region of starbirth, similar to the famous “Pillars of Creation” within the Eagle Nebula (M16) in Sagittarius.
The wonderfully detailed image was captured by Barry Schellenberg from his observatory north of Burlington, Ontario. He used a QSI 683WS(-8) “full frame” CCD camera and Borg 1 01ED (at f/4.1) refractor telescope to capture 60 hours of image data shot through H-alpha, OIII and SII narrowband filters.
