IC1396, Elephant Trunk Nebula

Here is my take on IC1396, the Elephant Trunk Nebula. The data was taken back in June and July, it has taken me a while to get it posted.

The final image was taken with a monochrome camera using narrowband filters. Just under 28 hours of total exposure time. Attached to the camera was the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 200mm.

Thanks for looking!

I didn't think the 70-200 could take a picture of this quality, I struggled with mine for ages. Is it a 100% crop of the pic?

This image is reduced quite a bit to upload to the site, a full size is on the web site.

The lens does much better stopped down a little. I use it around f/5.6. I’m using a dedicated astrocam, but have an adapter (Astromechanics) that lets me control aperture and autofocus. I’m also using a monochrome camera with narrowband filters, allowing me to capture more of the faint details.

My main optics for astrophotography are the 70-200 f/2.8, 100-400 f/4-5.6 (v 1 and 2), and 500mm f/4.

I found a 'proper' telescope works better for me, though I haven't put a dedicated astro cam on my lens.. mainly because I dont have one, other than guide scopes.

Your processing is pretty spot on too. Perhaps I'll bust out the 70-200 again and give it a go.

That's a great image! And count me in as surprised to see this out of the 70-200 f/2.8, as well.

Admittedly I haven't really tried much astro with mine (non-IS model, not that that figures into this image). Of course I'd be using my 7D MkII, as I don't have a dedicated astro cam, nevermind a mono cam.

I was going to ask if you had dark skies, but noticed you're in Silicon Valley. Then I read the bit about narrowband.

Thank you. Definitely give it another go. I do try to get a lot of data before integration, I typically try for only 1 or 2 targets over a month. Then I am brutal about tossing frames - if I see any imperfections on a quick run through they get discarded.

rdricks wrote in post #19162799
Thank you. Definitely give it another go. I do try to get a lot of data before integration, I typically try for only 1 or 2 targets over a month. Then I am brutal about tossing frames - if I see any imperfections on a quick run through they get discarded.

Do you find that tossing unsuitable frames makes a big difference? I rarely have any that I feel are bad ... but I am not brutal about it by any means..

I’ve been happier with my results since I started going through the images and throwing out any with quickly identifiable defects. It also may all be in my head, but I think it helps.