Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/Getman et al, Optical: DSS, Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Colors processing: Exoplanet.sg
IC 1396A Elephant Trunk Nebula
Located in the constellation Cepheus (The King of Aethiopia), there is a huge dense cloud of gas and dust which shape like an elephant trunk in visible light wavelengths. Its official name is IC 1396A and commonly known as the Elephant Trunk Nebula. IC 1396A is a star formation region. Stars discovered by infrared imaging are as young as less than 100,000 years old, compare to a typical life of a star which live around billions of years. This image is a composition of visible light (red, green, blue), infrared (red, green, blue) and X-ray light (purple). View in visible light, the dense cloud of gas and dust are mostly opaque. Infrared imaging are able to see through the cloud and produce beautiful bright images on the murky region.