IC1396
The large orange star in the image below is Mu Cephei, which is also known as Herschel's Garnet
Star. It is a red supergiant star about 1600 times the diameter of the sun. This star is one of the
largest and most luminous known in the Milky Way. Mu Cephei is nearing death. It has begun to
fuse helium into carbon and may explode as a supernova sometime n the next million years or so.
It is located about 5000 light years from Earth. For more information on this interesting star, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Cephei.
Most of the nebula IC1396 complex shown below is obscured by dark patches that have their own
separate designations in the Barnard dark nebula catalogue. This area is in the Milky Way which is
why the star density is so high. If you look closely, near the right side of the color image, lies the
dark form of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. I have also taken a closeup image of this nebula in H
alpha, which is shown in the grayscale image below. This image was taken with a C9.25 f/5
telescope and a SBIG ST10XME camera. As you can see, there is a huge difference in scale
between the two images.
Star. It is a red supergiant star about 1600 times the diameter of the sun. This star is one of the
largest and most luminous known in the Milky Way. Mu Cephei is nearing death. It has begun to
fuse helium into carbon and may explode as a supernova sometime n the next million years or so.
It is located about 5000 light years from Earth. For more information on this interesting star, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Cephei.
Most of the nebula IC1396 complex shown below is obscured by dark patches that have their own
separate designations in the Barnard dark nebula catalogue. This area is in the Milky Way which is
why the star density is so high. If you look closely, near the right side of the color image, lies the
dark form of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. I have also taken a closeup image of this nebula in H
alpha, which is shown in the grayscale image below. This image was taken with a C9.25 f/5
telescope and a SBIG ST10XME camera. As you can see, there is a huge difference in scale
between the two images.
| H alpha image from 30 x 5 min exposures, binned 2:2, SBIG ST10XME/AO8; click on image for full-size |
Wide field image taken with a modified Canon XSi, 85mm lens; 16 x 3 minutes;
AstroTrac mount. Click on images for full size.
AstroTrac mount. Click on images for full size.