August 20, 2026
You were not dropped into the cosmos as a stranger. You came from it entirely: borrowed from stars, carried by Earth, warmed by the Sun, and...
The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
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APOD published August 20, 2026. Credit: Eddie Sgarbossa. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Also known as vdB 142, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The detailed telescopic view features the bright swept-back ridges and pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas that abound in the region. But the dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. Top to bottom this proboscidean-like rendition reaches across an almost 1 degree wide field of view, though. That's a little less than the angular size of 2 full moons.
Image credit: Eddie Sgarbossa