Target Fun Facts
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is thought to be a 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 for billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. 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’s Trunk Nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
Other Catalog Designations: SH2-131, Ced195
Subtype: Cluster associated with nebulosity
Distance from Earth: 2400 light years
Size: 100 light years (emission nebula), 20 light years (trunk length)
Visual Magnitude: 3.5
Constellation: Cepheus
{Target information from: Stellarium and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s_Trunk_Nebula }
Capture Notes
This image was captured from Springfield, Colorado. Specifically, from Comanche National Grasslands public land on a spot about half a mile south of US Hwy 160 off County Road 24.3. The trip was a hybrid dark skies (staying in a hotel in Springfield because of the 100 degree heat) and an anniversary trip to Albuquerque for dinner at dinner at Sal’s. We took the Expedition (rather than the Beast since we were going to be doing a lot of driving) and in packing my gear, I decided to take only one guide scope to save space in the Pelican case optics box for my Milky Way lens and camera. Of course, in doing that, I took out the guide scope that has the attachment mount to the Southern Cross. So, the imaging was done throughout the night without a guide scope. Because I didn’t have the correct autoguider I abandoned the original plan to capture more dark skies data on Flying Bat and instead decided to capture the Elephant Trunk, a relatively bright target (Mag = 3.5). Because I had been experimenting with 2×2 binning, having read that it basically has the same effect as doubling the exposure value, I decided to use that setting. I forgot to set the camera gain before starting the sequence, so it defaulted to gain=158, no offset. I imaged from approximately 2100 until the meridian flip at approximately 0100. (Captured the Milky Way with the Canon EOS Ra with 14mm lens on the star tracker, while the Elephant Trunk capture was proceeding.) While my initial plan was to image the Elephant Trunk all night long, I decided late in the game (about the time I was going to do the meridian flip) to maximize the dark skies targets captured during this one-night trip and switched to the Flaming Skull Nebula at that point. Although I captured almost 4 hours of data, because of the lack of an autoguider, the stacking process had me deleting more than half in order to register and produce an image. In short, I captured 78×3 minute exposures (3:54hrs), the image below is a stack of 35×3 minute exposures (1:45hrs). Even given the lack of data – the richness of the colors and the ease of processing reemphasizes the fact that dark skies ARE better!
Equipment
Polar alignment: QHYCCD camera (controlled by Polemaster)
Imaging stream: (Southern Cross) Askar FRA600 on Rainbow Astro RC-135E, ZWO ASI2400MC camera
Mount: Rainbow Astro RC-135E (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver)
All equipment controlled by HP Probook running Sequence Generator Pro v3.2.0.660.
Sequence Plan
Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=NotSet. Bin 2×2, 78x3min. Captured 18Aug2023, 2056MDT – 19Aug2023, 0057MDT. Total exposure time: 3:54hrs although due to issues with registering the subframes the image is a stack of 35×3 minute exposures (1:45hrs)
Other images of the same object:
IC1396 Elephant Trunk with data captured from city skies
Capture Notes
This image was captured from the Bortle 6 skies of Colorado Springs during a 99.7% waxing gibbous moon (full moon was 1135MDT on Friday, 5May2023). The moon rose before the target and set after sunrise, so was up all night, throughout this imaging session. The imaging stream included an Optilong LeXtreme filter to counteract both the night’s natural and artificial light pollution.
Equipment
Polar alignment: QHYCCD camera (controlled by Polemaster)
Imaging stream: (Southern Cross) Askar FRA600 on Rainbow Astro RC-135E, ZWO ASI2400MC imaging camera with Optolong L-eXtreme LP filter.
Mount: Rainbow Astro RC-135E (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver)
Autoguider: Orion 60mm Multi-Use Guide Scope, Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera (controlled by PHD2)
All equipment controlled by HP Probook running Sequence Generator Pro v3.2.0.660.
Sequence Plan
Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=none. SC LeX 10x5min, 25x10min. Captured 7May2023, 0001MDT – 7May2023, 0503MDT. Total exposure time: 5:00hrs (captured), 4:50hrs (in processed image).
IC1396 Multi-session image with data captured from dark and city skies
Capture Notes
This image is a combination of data from three imaging sessions. All were shot with the Askar FRA600 (600mm) telescope. On Friday, 23 September 2022 we were at Wisdom Tooth Arch in Holt Canyon of the Comanche National Grasslands for the Southern Cross’ (with the HEM27 mount) maiden voyage. Issues with the HEM27 mount limited the amount of data that could be captured during that trip. On Saturday, 6 May 2023 we had a clear night (albeit full moon), so those images were taken using the ASI2400 SC with the LeXtreme filter. Finally, on 15 May 2023 a small amount of data was captured and combined with the data captured on 27 May 2023 – both with the ASI2400 SC with the LPro filter.
Multi-session Equipment & Sequence Plans
23Sep2022:
- Equipment: iOptron Polar Scope for polar alignment; Askar FRA600 on iOptron HEM27 (controlled by iOptron Commander and ASCOM driver); Canon EOS Ra.
- Sequence Plan: ISO1600; 32x300sec; captured 24Sep2022 0305 – 0552MDT. Last four (4) subframes unusable due to too much light (after astronomical twilight start). Total exposure time: 2:40 hrs.
6May2023:
- Equipment: (Southern Cross) Askar FRA600 on Rainbow Astro RC-135E (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver), ZWO ASI2400MC imaging camera with Optolong L-eXtreme LP filter.
- Sequence Plan: Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=none. SC LeX 10x5min, 25x10min. Captured 7May2023, 0001MDT – 7May2023, 0503MDT. During processing, deleted image captured at 0453MDT, slightly brighter than rest. Total exposure time: 5:00hrs (captured), 4:50hrs (in processed image).
15May & 27May2023:
- Equipment: (Southern Cross) Askar FRA600 on Rainbow Astro RC-135E (controlled by iHubo ASCOM driver), ZWO ASI2400MC imaging camera with Optolong L-Pro LP filter.
- Sequence Plan: 15May2023: Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=none. SC LPro 2x5min; 1x3min. Captured 15May2023, 2327-2343MDT.
- 27May2023: Gain: 158, Temp: -0°C, offset=none. SC LPro 129x3min. Captured 27May2023, 2205MDT – 28May2023, 0456MDT. During processing, deleted image captured at after 0428MDT (End of astronomical twilight, begin nautical twilight was 0427). Total exposure time: 6:27hrs (captured), 6:00hrs (in processed image).
IC1396 Elephant Trunk with data captured from dark skies
Capture Notes
This image was captured from the dark skies of the Comanche National Grasslands, during the first edition* of the Southern Cross’ (Canon EOS Ra, Askar FRA600, iOptron HEM27) maiden voyage. Arrived at Wisdom Tooth Arch and set up RaSC on HEM27, using DC power from Beast house power outlet. Polar aligned using iPolar without issue. Struggled with autoguiding calibration (errors regarding too few steps, questionable guiding), ran the PHD2 Guiding Assistant several times (recommended minimum move settings changes, applied), changed to Predictive PEC algorithm in RA. Finally got the autoguider to work, after the meridian flip (i.e., the mount will not guide when on the east side of the meridian). Autoguider worked (although with much more variation than guiding with EQ6R) because the target was well past the meridian when imaging began (azimuth = 320° – 335°).
*After another month of struggling with the iOptron HEM27 mount, I got authorization from iOptron to return it. In it’s place, I purchased a Rainbow Astro RC-135E harmonic mount which has become the mount of the Southern Cross imaging set-up (named after its intended purpose, purchased for an astrophotography workshop in Chile)
Equipment
Polar alignment: QHYCCD camera (controlled by Polemaster)
Imaging stream: Canon EOS Ra on Askar FRA600
Mount: iOptron HEM27 (controlled by iOptron Commander and ASCOM driver);
Autoguider: Orion 60mm Multi-Use Guide Scope, Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera (controlled by PHD2)
All equipment controlled by HP Probook running Sequence Generator Pro v3.2.0.660.
Sequence Plan
ISO1600; 32x300sec; captured 24Sep2022 0305 – 0552MDT. From Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado. Total exposure time: 2:40 hrs.