Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC 1396)

The Elephant Trunk Nebula is about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. A bright central double star ionizes the clouds of hydrogen and oxygen. Dark dust regions block our view of some of the nebula. The dark sinuous region starting at the bottom gives the nebula its name. The nebula spans about 3 degrees in the sky, 6 times the size of the moon.