This object is commonly known as the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula.  The dense cloud of gas is being illuminated by a massive, nearby star. The circular area at the left of the image is thought to be a formation area of new stars. This object is approximately 2400 light years from the Earth.

Camera: QSI 683wsg-8 with Astronomik narrowband filters.

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106

Mount: Meade Lx-200GPS

Total exposure time was 8 hours through Hydrogen-Alpha, O3 and S2 narrowband filters mapped to green, blue and red respectively.

Image data acquired over several evenings during the week of Oct. 13, 2014

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IC 1396A in  Cepheus