Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha (BillyBoyBoy)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cepheus (Cep) · Contains: HD205948 · HD206081 · LBN 451 · LBN 452 · LDN 1098 · LDN 1099 · LDN 1105 · VdB142

Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha

In my Bortle 4.5 backyard during a waxing Moon, I get a lot of hydrogen alpha data! I have found a real appreciation in the contrast of a black and white astro image, especially in Ha. I love the structure and in the case of the Elephant Trunk nebula, the "back lighting" of the dark dust cloud that forms the silhouette of the elephant's head.

This region is thought to be a birthplace for stars, as the elephant's "eye" suggests the clearing of nebulosity by solar winds from those born within. The contrasting greyscale image, drawing out differences in the dark dust cloud, shows structure that isn't often depicted in color images. So much interesting structure teases for a larger mosaic of the area someday!

The backdrop nebulosity is a mix of gases, with doubly ionized oxygen prominent. I will capture OIII when the Moon goes away and produce an HOO palette image to show the two gases in this dramatic scene.

Hover over this image to show a starless version, which I think always reveals how distracting the foreground stars can be.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8515173
PixInsight job	74ZV3OB4ST81WJOK7IQXQ9CRCGEXKIUW
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h36m17s.427
RA (top/left)	21h39m28s.302
RA (top/right)	21h35m27s.629
RA (bottom/right)	21h33m05s.511
RA (bottom/left)	21h37m05s.823

Dec (center)	+57°28′46″.92
Dec (top/left)	+57°24′53″.98
Dec (top/right)	+57°53′55″.70
Dec (bottom/right)	+57°32′21″.99
Dec (bottom/left)	+57°03′39″.29

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Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha

Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha

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Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha

Elephant Trunk Nebula Headshot in Ha

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