Clic here for 50% size 1929x1247 (890 kB)
About this Image |
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The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, an elongated dark cometary globule is situated within the western part of the huge IC 1396 emission complex in the constellation Cepheus. The small blue reflection nebula in the top of the trunk is named vdB 142. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years,
the globule is a condensation of dense gas and dust, compressed by the surrounding ionized gas, which is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star.
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Optics |
16" Cassegrain in corrected prime focus at f/3 |
Mount | MK-100 GEM |
Camera | SBIG STL-11000M at -15C, 1x1 bin, internal filter wheel |
Filters | Astronomik Ha, O-III, B |
Date | Sep 01 2005. |
Location | Wildon/Austria |
Sky Conditions | mag 4.5 sky, low transparency, temperature 22 C |
Exposure | Ha:O-III:B = 90:60:40 minutes (30-minute sub-exposures for H-alpha and O-III, 10 min subs for B), |
Processing |
Image aquisition, calibration, aligning, stacking, color synthesis in Maxim DL 4.11;
Photoshop: H-alpha as red and blended 30% as L channel, O-III as green, levels and curves, color balance; very little noise reduction by Neatimage; |