IC 1396, a large faint nebula in Cepheus, sometimes called the Elephant Trunk Nebula, though the actual “Elephant Trunk” feature is the dark protuberance just right of centre called van den Burgh 142 (vdB 142). Also in the frame at top (north) is the red star Mu Cephei, aka the Garnet Star. This is a stack of 15 x 6 minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 through the TMB 92mm apo refractor at f/4.4 with the Borg. 0.85x field flattener/reducer. Taken from New Mexico, Nov 17, 2014.
The large star-forming region of IC 1396 in Cepheus, taken September 4, 2018 from home in southern Alberta. The wide field includes the bright orange star Mu Cephei, or Herschel’s Garnet Star, at upper left. The Elephant Trunk Nebula is just right of centre. North is at top. This is a stack of 9 exposures: 5 x 4 minutes at ISO 1600 and 4 x 8 minutes at ISO 800, all with the 77mm f/4 Borg Astrograph and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII, an old but very excellent camera! With the 300mm focal length and full frame camera the field is about 7° by 4°. Star diffraction spikes added with AstronomyTools actions. StarShrink filter also applied. Focused with Bahtinov mask. Autoguided with SG4.
The large star-forming region of IC 1396 in Cepheus, taken September 5, 2018 from home in southern Alberta. The wide field includes the bright orange star Mu Cephei, or Herschel’s Garnet Star, at top. The Elephant Trunk Nebula is at centre. North is at top. This is a stack of 7 exposures: 5 x 6 minutes at ISO 1600 with an LPS light pollution reduction filter and 2 x 5 minutes at ISO 1600 without the LPS filter, all with the 77mm f/4 Borg Astrograph and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII. I refocused between unfiltered and filtered shots, and registered the images in Photoshop. The filtered shots record the red nebulosity with more intensity. The unfiltered shots provide a more natural color to the stars and background sky. So this is a composite that blends the best of both worlds. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools actions.
