
IC 1396 (Elephant’s Truck Nebula)
- The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
The most famous feature inside IC 1396 is the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A).
o - At the edge of IC 1396 lies Mu Cephei, also called the “Garnet Star,” a famous red supergiant and one of the largest known stars.
o - Mu Cephei is a red supergiant or hypergiant star in the northern constellation Cepheus. It is officially named the Garnet Star.
- Object Name
IC 1396
- Object Type
Emission Nebula
- Constellation
Cepheus
- Magnitude
+6.8
- Distance
2,400 light-years
- Annotate

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Equipment
Telescope:
Mount:
Accessories:
Sky-Watcher Esprint 80ED Triplet
Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 GT
ZWO ASIair Plus / PixInsight
Camera:
Guiding:
Filter:
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro cooling
ZWO ASI1200MM
2″ Optolong eNchance
Bortle Scale: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire (Bortle 6.6)
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Integration
- Date:
- Moonlit:
- Total:
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Constellation :- Cepheus (The Cepheus King)

Object :-
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Other name :-
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Magnitude :–
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IC 1396
Elephant’s Truck Nebula
Emission Nebula
+6.1
2,400 light years / 100 light years across
Cep (Cephus / The Cepheus King)
21h 39m 00s
+57° 29′ 24″
Enlarge on click the map.

(Click the map above for a large view.)
| Abbreviation: Cep |
| English Name: The Cepheus King |
| Genitive: Alderamin, sometimes spelt Al Deramin. |
| Hemisphere: Northern Hemisphere |
| Location: Between the constellations of Cassiopeia and Draco. |
| Visible between latitudes: +90 and -10 degrees |
| Best season: Autumn |
| Seen in three seasons: Summer, Autumn & Winter |
| Best seen in: October (This constellation of Cepheus stays in the sky all the year.) |
| Seen between: August and December |
| Right Ascension (RA): 22 hour |
| Declination (DEC): +70 degrees |
| Area (square degrees): 588 (27th) |
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Facts about IC 1396
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- IC 1396 is a huge cloud of gas and dust where new stars are being born.
o - IC 1396 is a favorite target for astrophotographers because of its glowing hydrogen gas, dark dust lanes, and the striking Elephant’s Trunk structure.
o - One part of IC 1396 looks like an elephant’s trunk reaching through space, which is how it got its nickname.
o - Many stars inside IC 1396 are only a few million years old ~ very young compared with our Sun, which is about 4.6 billion years old.
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