|
|
| Tips | Links | Contact | ||
|
||||
< Back |
IC1396 b |
Next > |
||
| About this picture: |
|
The Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust in the star cluster IC 1396 and ionized gas region located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star that is just to the west. The Elephant Trunk nebula is now thought to be 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 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 Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars. Scope: 12" LX200 OTA @ f6.3 Mount: MI250 Camera: SBIG ST200XM,CFW10 Astrodon Gen II filters Guiding: SSautoguider with Maxim Dl. LLRGB image, L= 16X10 min. RGB= 16X5 min. Bin 2X. Total exposure time = 6 hrs 40 min. Images acquired with Maximum Dl, combined with CCDStack, final processing with PS CS2 Images were taken at the fully automated Burkes Observatory on 09/13, 09/14 2009 using ACP. See IC1396 a for a wide field narrow band view. |