IC 1396 in Cepheus
The large HII region IC 1396 in the constallation of Cepheus spans some 3 degrees of summer sky. It is illumitated by a single massive O‑type supergiant blue star, located at the center of the donut-shaped emmission cloud.
Seveveral cometlike structures, known as bright rimmed globules, form a loose an slowly espanding ring within IC 1396. Although several of the cometary globules are opticaly conspicuous, the most prominent and well-studied is IC 1396A (bottom), populary kown as the Elephant Trunk Nebula. A detailed image taken with longer focallength can be found here.
Long OIII and Ha data have been combined with Lum to create an enhanced Luminance, which then was blended to a deep RGB to preserve the natural colors. North is at 9 o’clock.
[description from ‘A Year in the Life of the Universe’ by Gendler]
Details
Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics.
“Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”.
Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion. 