IC 1396 (Elephant's Trunk Nebula)
A huge glowing cloud in Cepheus, more than five Full Moons across, lit by the young cluster inside it. A dark column of dust and gas reaching into it is the Elephant's Trunk.
Nebula and star cluster in Cepheus.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 39° above the northern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 36° above the northern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 14 Aug, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Not visible to the eye. It lies 5.7° south-east of Alderamin.
- 10x50 binoculars: A faint glow around a group of stars, from a dark site with a nebula filter.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Too big for most telescope fields; the cluster shows, and the Elephant's Trunk needs a camera.
- A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 200 mm (field 6.7° × 4.5°); needs a tracking mount. An H-alpha-sensitive (modified) camera brings out its red glow. The photo above covers only the part around the Elephant's Trunk.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 170′, 5.5 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Distance: 2,960 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 2,960 years ago.
- True size: 150 light-years across its catalogued outline; light crosses it in 150 years.
What it is made of
- Type
- Emission nebula with a young cluster
What is in it, not measured:
- Ionised hydrogen: glows red where hot stars light it
- Helium and heavier gases: with traces of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur
- Dust: in dark lanes
- Young hot stars: that light it
How we know: Distance from Gaia parallaxes of its young stars and of its cloud: five Gaia-era studies via SIMBAD mesDistance, retrieved 2026-10-21: Zucker et al. 2020 (2020A&A...633A..51Z) 918 pc, 2021A&A...651A.104P 905 pc, 2021MNRAS.504..356D 914 pc, 2023MNRAS.520.1390S 904 and 908 pc; median 908 pc. Not Hunt & Reffert 2024's "Trumpler 37" row (601 pc, 285 million years), which is a different, older group. True size: the apparent size times the distance (apparent size: Sharpless 1959, ApJS 4, 257 (VizieR VII/20), Sh2-131).
More deep-sky objects: Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380) · M39 (Open Cluster) · M52 (Open Cluster) · NGC 7789 (Caroline's Rose / White Rose Cluster) · M29 (Open Cluster) · NGC 457 (ET Cluster / Owl Cluster)