Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.)  Captured at 3.5 arcsec/pixel.  Shown resampled to 10.5 arcsec/pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon 6nm Filters

Acquisition Data

7/28/2008 to 7/31/2008 Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

SII   150 min.  (10 x 15 min. bin 2x2)

Hα    360 min.  (24 x 15 min. bin 1x1)
OIII  180 min.  (12 x 15 min. bin 2x2)

Hα  is used for the luminance

SII,Ha & OIII are mapped to RGB respectively

Software

CCDSoft, CCDStack, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin and Noel Carboni's actions.

CCDStack to calibrate, register, normalize, data reject & combine.

PhotoShop for non-linear stretching and the color combine.

North is to the right

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas.

Source:  NASA / JPL