The Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) refers to the brightly rimmed shadow of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger emission nebula IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus, about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The nebula is a dark, dense region that gets its name from its appearance at visible light wavelengths, where there is a long winding dark patch with a bright rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive multiple star (HD 206267) that is just to the east of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula . The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by this massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.

This image is a stack of 235 one-minute un-guided subs taken with my QHY268C on my AT60ED with 0.8x focal reducer.

Image Center:	View full size annotated image.
Right Ascension:	21h 39m 18.134s (324° 49m 32.006s)
Declination:	+57° 31m 45.342s
Orientation:	Up is 177.4 degrees East of North.
Image Size:	4.560° x 3.053°	Pixel Scale:	2.689"

Principal objects in field: Erakis (μ Cep), IC 1396, The star 13 Cep, The star The Garnet Star

All identified catalog objects: 13 Cep, IC 1396, μ Cep/The Garnet Star / Erakis