In the constellation of Vulpecula you can find this pretty object,consisting of the Reflection Nebula NGC6820 and the embedded Open Cluster NGC6823 to its right.
At a real distance of about 6000 light-years it apears as an object of 40 arc-minutes dimension.
Very prominent in NGC6820 is the dust-pillar,resembling an elephant´s trunk.This structure is formed by the strong radiation of the nearby stars,which blow away gaseous material,resulting in the trunk-like feature.
The most famous trunk in the heaven can be found inside the nebula M16,also called the Eagle-Nebula.
NGC6823 contains many young,blue coloured stars,aged about 2mio years.
position (epoch 2000):
Ra.: 19h 42m 27.92s
Decl.: +23° 05' 14.7"
image data:
Lsynth(R+Ha)GB image from:
Lsynth. = 6 x RGB,1200s each + 6 x Ha 2400s
RGB= 6 x 1200s each
Ha = 8 x 2400s
a total of 11.33 hours
80cm f/7 AstroOptik Keller corrected cassegrain
FLI Proline 16803 Astrodon LRGB GenII filters Prompt 7
CTIO/UNC Chile,remote controlled
image processing: Bernd Flach-Wilken
the central part of the Nebula NGC6820 with the OpenCluster NGC6823 can be seen in this 21.6´x21.6´arc-minutes large FOV
For full resolution click HERE
this is a deitailed look in Halpha to the trunk-like pillar of dust and gas: