THE ELEPHANT’S TRUNK NEBULA
IC 1396A • Emission nebula • Cepheus • 2400 light-years from Earth
🔭
Askar 130PHQ
📷
ZWO 2600MC Pro
🌃
Bortle 8
⏱️
22 hours
🗓️
October 2022
Overview
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a dense pillar of gas and dust within the much larger emission nebula IC 1396, located around 2400 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. Its distinctive, sinuous shape has been carved by stellar winds and intense radiation from nearby massive stars. Within these dark clouds, new stars are actively forming, hidden from view and revealed only through astrophotography at specific wavelengths.
Background
It’s been a busy few months at the Urban Astrophotography HQ. I’ve upgraded a lot of my kit, and am now using an Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph mounted on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO, plus a William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ RotoLock for guiding.
Speaking of which, I recently bought an Optolong L-Ultimate dualband filter; then Askar sent me one of their newly-released Colour Magic 6nm dualband filters to review. The tests meant I had a lot of data with these filters so decided to combine them into a “first light” image with my new telescope.
I’m happy with the result as it shows a level of detail I could never have obtained with my Askar FRA400 — scroll down to see some comparisons. The processing was tricky though, and I spent about two days trying out different versions until I settled on something I think does the source data justice. I like the colours but am not sure I could ever reproduce them!
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Kit list
This is the equipment I used to capture the image.
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Telescope: Askar 130PHQ
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Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro
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Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
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Guidescope: William Optics 50mm with ROTO Lock
Read my review
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Guidecam: ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
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Control: ASIAIR Plus
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Buy from High Point Scientific
Filter: Optolong L-Ultimate
Read my review
Buy from Astroshop.eu
Buy from High Point Scientific
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Example source data
Here are example single subframes and freshly integrated stacks, just with simple stretches applied.
Seestar S50 image
This photo of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula was taken using my Seestar S50 telescope.
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Amazingly beautiful – hard to believe it is from a OSC with rough city lights! Gratefully you aimed away from the lights your neighbors windows.
meant to say “the lights OF your neighbors windows.”
Luckily I don’t have any really bright lights aiming down into my garden, but the skyglow is extreme!
Amazingly beautiful – hard to believe it is from a OSC with rough city lights! Gratefully you aimed away from the lights of your neighbors windows.
Amazing the details and quality of each of your final images, you have great skills processing astrophotography!!
Thanks Denis, I’ve worked hard at improving my processing skills, particularly over the last year. Still lots to learn though!
Great image.
How does the Eq6r pro handle the 130 phq?
Does it clear the legs in declination? Thanks!
The EQ6R-Pro handles the weight of the 130PHQ just fine, thankfully! I have my mount on a concrete block pier. If you use tripod legs then the telescope will almost certainly collide with the legs when pointing near the zenith. A tripod extension to give the mount head some extra height would definitely help. A pier is the best solution though.
Thanks for the prompt answer.