Huuuge IC 1396 Elephants Trunk in Hubble colors

[Grinde]

Hi guys!

Finally I got a chance to return to the elephants trunk , which was my first target ever when I moved from dslr to ccd. This time I was armed to the teeth with gear & gadgets, so I could pretty much capture the whole target in one shot & let me tell you, it's huge! I tried my best to give the stars a realistic look, so I made a star-color layer, where I mixed the filters to give more natural colors, instead of the classic magenta/red look.

I also included a shot of the moon to show you all the size.

5 hours total exposures

S2: 5*20min

Ha: 6*20min

O3: 4*20min

FSQ106 f/5, STL-11k w. Baader filters

NEQ6, PHD-guided with st80+lodestar

EQMod (It's really awesome)

Here's the uncropped field of view, click image for 50% pixelsize

And for the pixel-hungry, here's the 100% sized 11megapixel image

A cropped close-up, matching what I'd get with the 8300-sensor 100% pixelsize if you click it

Here's the moon-composite : And a "NoStars" version

I hope you all enjoyed the photos!

Jonas

[Shibby]

My, that's stunning, a real beauty! Even at 100% it looks fantastic and you've done a great job maintaining those star colours. (Ok, I'm running out of superlatives now...)

I never realised how huge it was. It looks like the trunk alone is the same size as the moon's diameter!

[barkis]

That is a huge result Jonas, and super to say the least.

I like these very large nebulae processed via narrowband flltering,

as the process appears to me to show the active areas better, and give more depth to these vast areas of gas and dust.

I like the moon image planted there to give meaning to the area occupied by the nebula too.

All in all, a great bit of work indeed. Congratulations, they are a pleasure to look at :icon_salut:.

Ron.

[Fay]

That is fantastic, really a great image!

Fay

[Martin-Devon]

incredible, never seen it like this before, just fantastic....

[Luke]

Excuse me while I just stick my eyeballs back in. WOW. Thanks for posting!

[Catanonia]

One word, Fantastic.

Amazing the size and love the moon composite. Perfect and great colours too.

[angusb1]

Its lovely to see the whole thing in all its glory. I like the star colour as well and showing us the scale alongside the moon is a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

[prokyon]

Very, very nice! Great field, great colours and great details!

[AndyUK]

I can't believe that this is only 5 hours worth of subs... This is an absolutely stunning image, and superb processing - Congratulations (and I'm VERY envious!)

[RobH]

Knockout image

I agree with Andy...to get this out of just 5 hours is a great achievement...very nice processing and the composite is a work of art.

Cheers

Rob

[ollypenrice]

That, my dear Grinde, is quite exquisite! It has a really gaseous look, just as it should, and the tiny stars allow the nebula to show itself cleanly. Putting in the moon is a great idea.

You know that Sh2-129 could be included in a mosaic? I fancy trying that next year.

Olly

[Luis Campos]

Thats not just a stunnig image, that's a true masterpiece....trully...brilliant.

Best wishes,

[Whirlwind]

Gorgeous..never realised this area was so big!

[theodoros1978]

one of the best ever seen! omg, its so beautiful!

[R Fisher]

As said above, Fantastic image, colours are not oversaturated and its not easy keeping a quality starfield while enhancing the nebula.

[morimarty]

Quite Simply a stunning image, very well done.

ATB martyn

[paulobao]

This is really a great image. Congratulations :-). I never thought one could get this kind of signal with so little exposure time and a not that sensitive camera. kudos for this one.

Regards,

paulo

[SJJ]

Amazing!

[Coco]

Mind bendingly beautiful...

[Tom OD]

Hmmm lovely. Nice moon size comparison. I prefer that orange look in narrowband to the brown / yellow Hubble look. Great job for 5hrs of data.

Tom.

[James]

Wow - with only 4-6 subs for each channel! Nice image - I too like the superimposed Moon - gives a sense of the scale of the object in imaging terms.

James

[Casperovic]

Beautiful image , and great setup as well

[rocketandroll]

Gotta love those Takahashi pinpoint stars :-)

That is almost without doubt the best IC1396 pic I've ever seen... so crisp, so detailed... just lovely... well deserved POW too :-)

Ben

[Looking Up]

Oh my, oh my, now that is something special! Unbelievable level of detail!

Spencer