Optics/mount : 12″ACF 2.7m AP-Reduzer Alt-5
Camera/filters: Atik 11002 AstrodonHa/OIII/SII
Exposure:15×600 Ha and 10×600 OIII/SII all 2bin
25 August 2016
The Elephant’s Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant’s Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star (HD 206267) that is just to the west of IC 1396A. (In the Figure above, the massive star is just to the left of the edge of the image.) The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star’s harsh ultraviolet rays.
The Elephant’s Trunk nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.
The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant’s Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars@Wiki
La nébuleuse de la trompe est une concentration de gaz interstellaire et de poussières dans la grande région de gaz ionisé IC 1396 situé dans la constellation de Céphée environ 2400 années-lumière de la Terre.
La nébuleuse de la trompe est maintenant considéré comme un site de formation d’étoiles, contenant plusieurs (moins de 100 000 an) étoiles très jeunes.
A starless versin of the Elephant Trank nebula
A two panel mosaic
VdB142starless
The starless version of the two panel mosaic
