It often happens that a photo of a deep space object does not suggest the common name of the object. That is because the name almost always comes from the object's appearance to a visual observer. The Elephant's Trunk (the dark path on the right side of the image) is actually the BRIGHT part of the image visually. Because this is a narrowband image showing hydrogen in red and oxygen in blue-green (if there were any oxygen), the appearance is extremely different.

The entire region is much larger than what is shown here. It is about 3,000 light years from Earth, in the constellation Cepheus. The image was shot over several nights in August, 2011 at Wa'chur'ed Observatory.

Scope: AT111EDT w/WO Flat 4 0.8X reducer/flattener

Mount: Orion Atlas/EQMOD

Guiding: Meade DSI Pro and PHD Guiding

Guide Scope: Orion ST80

Camera: QSI583ws at -15C

Exposure: 12 x 900 seconds H-a, 15 x 480 seconds O-3 (5 hrs total)