IC 1396 + Sh2-129/Ou4
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
2001 (3x1200 sec) + 2019 session (4x300 sec) @200mm
This image includes data acquired in July 2019 (from Piano Visitone 1420m - Pollino's National Park) with Canon EOS 4000D + MC Pentacon 200/4 lens telephoto ((4x300 sec) added to an image obtained from the average of photos (3x1200 sec Kodak E200), after digitization, taken in July 2001 with the same telephoto lens (Albaneta 1260m - Pollino's National Park) [see this:
https://www.astrobin.com/93675/].
Obviously, the field is a mosaic cutout in the common area.
Sh2-129/Ou4 (above left)
Discovered by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the bipolar shape and emission are consistent with it being a planetary nebula, but its actual distance and origin are unknown.
Recent investigation suggests Ou4 really lies within the emission region SH2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this nebula would physically be nearly 50 light-years across.
IC 1396 (below right) is a large ionized gas region located in the constellation Cepheus at about 2,400 light years. The nebula mixes glowing cosmic gas and dark dust cloud, and there is a scattering of hot stars, quite widely separated from each other, inside the nebula.
The brightest star (38,000 times brighter than the Sun) in the image is mu Cephei. It's a red supergiant star with a diameter larger than the orbit of Saturn, some 1,536 times the diameter of the Sun. It is one of the largest stars we know of. Also called Herschel’s Garnet Star, mu Cephei is a variable star that varies in magnitude from 3.4 to 5.1 over a period of approximately 730 days.
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