by Craig and Tammy Temple
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a dark nebula within the star cluster
IC1396, although the nebula itself is actually cataloged as LDN 1105.
This entire area is a huge HII region, of which this is only the
western portion. This image was acquired during a waning gibbous Moon
that was 93% illuminated.
Telescope: Astro Tech AT8IN 8” f/4 Newtonian
Accessories: Baader MPCC
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider on William Optics ZS66
Camera: Self-modified Canon Digital Rebel XT
Filters: Astronomik 6nm H-Alpha EOS Clip
Exposure: 15 x 600s @ ISO 1600 (2hr. 30min.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.75 – Calibrated, registered, Min-Max excluded averaged, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Gradient XTerminator; Noise Ninja
Date(s): November 4, 2009
Temperature(s): 48ºF
SQM reading (begin - end): 18.50 – 17.76 mags./sq. Arcsec