The Elephant Trunk Nebula is an emission nebula in Cepheus. I did a broadband version of this back in 2019 with my little 80mm telescope and a narrowband and even more up close and personal version from the SRO telescope in 2021. This data is also from 2021 but from a slightly wider field-of-view telescope in Texas. It was a very deep integration taken by a friend.

The Elephant Trunk Nebula is an emission Nebula is about 2,400 light years away Though this image is fairly tight on the “trunk”, the trunk is part of a much larger nebula. That nebula is roughly circular in appearance. Here, we’re looking near one edge with the trunk pointing towards the center.

Since I had done a broadband and SHO version before, I thought about exploring another way to present this. But, I actually really like SHO versions o this nebula. Instead I concentrated on making target adjustments to color and contrast to make the nebula look good. It’s certainly much more contrasty than the 2021 version though I admit the softness of that version is also appealing to me. I feel like a mom who is unwilling to pick a favorite child. 🙂

When I compare them side by side, the SRO version is about the subtle transition of color while this version using my friend’s data is about texture and depth. They each have their appeal but I don’t think it’s possible to emphasize both in the same image.

This is 105h 10m of SHO data. For all the technical details, see astrobin.