IC 1396 North

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. IC 1396 is a giant emission nebula that is over 3 degrees in diameter. It is illuminated by a hot, massive O-type star (HD 206267) near its center. The star is not visible in this image- it is off of the top edge. This image is of a portion of IC 1396 in the northern part of the nebula. It shows only about 5% of the entire nebula. Images of other parts of IC 1396 are also available in this gallery. The image was generated with observations in the Hydrogen alpha (red) and Sulphur [SII] (blue) filters. In this image, North is down, East is right.