Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  B162  ·  B163  ·  B367
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IC 1396 Bok globules, Gary Lopez
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IC 1396 Bok globules

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC 1396 Bok globules, Gary Lopez
Powered byPixInsight

IC 1396 Bok globules

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Description

Bok globules were first observed by Bart Bok at Harvard University Observatory in the 1940. He and his colleague, Edith Reilly, hypothesized that they were areas undergoing gravitational collapse that resulted in the formation of new stars. It is now thought that a typical Bok globule is about one light-year across and contains material equivalent to about 10 solar masses. The current theory is that a Bok globule results in double- or multiple-star systems.

While the prominent feature of this nebula is the Elephant Truck, I find the smaller Bok globules are exquisite. This image features a collection of those Bok globules found in an area opposite from the Elephant Trunk (if the Trunk is in the south, this area is in the north). This image was a long time coming. I decided to attempt this framing in June 2018, after I collected wide angle data of IC1396. My efforts were thwarted by weather and smoke from fires in 2018. A year later, the night sky cleared for six hours this week and I was finally able the capture the last 5 hours of Ha data I needed to give this a go.

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