Featured Photograph
Elephant Trunk Nebula
© 2026 Klaus Brasch
Here is my latest image of the Elephant Trunk Nebula in the much larger IC 1396 region. It was taken with an Askar 185-mm APO refractor at f/5.6, through IDAS LPS V4 and Optolong LQ filters, with a spectrally modified Canon 6D Mark II DSLR at ISO 4000. Cumulative exposure was about 20 minutes. Images were stacked in Affinity Photo2, processed in Hubble Palette mode in Astro Wizard and finalized in Photoshop CS.
IC 1396 is one of the largest emission nebulae in the far northern sky some 2400 lights years from us in Cepheus. It contains several complex objects, including red supergiant Mu Cephei, several double stars, as well as the dark nebula van den Bergh 142, nicknamed the Elephant Trunk, and just south of that the dark nebula Barnard 161. Many other dark nebulae line its southern edge, and the associated cluster Trumpler 37.
The Elephant trunk region can be glimpsed with a large amateur telescope under really dark, transparent skies.
Klaus Brasch
The featured photograph is any astronomical photograph provided by one of our members. If you are a member and have a photograph you would like to submit, please refer to the Featured Photo Guidelines for more information. The submission deadline is the 15th of each month.
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Presenter: Kate Minker, Ph.D.
Title: Zoom in: Imaging asteroids at high angular resolution
I will discuss how high-angular resolution imaging with optical adaptive optics instruments such as the SHARK instruments on the Large Binocular Telescope and SPHERE on the Very Large Telescope have allowed us to view the Solar System at unprecedented resolution, allowing for meaningful study of asteroid shape and topography from the ground, and in particular how this can be applied to the study of binary systems. I will also discuss how these techniques were applied to the discovery of the highly unusual nature and satellite of asteroid (44) Nysa.
Currently, I am a Percival Lowell Postdoctoral Fellow at Lowell Observatory, and my research focuses on asteroid binaries, high angular-resolution imaging, and how these can be combined to study the internal structure of small bodies in the Solar System. Before I joined Lowell this past November I earned my Bachelor's degree in Astronomy from the University of Maryland, and my Master's and PhD from the Université Côte d'Azur through research conducted at the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in Nice, France and at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago Chile..
CAS Monthly Meetings and Astronomical Programs are held the
Saturday closest to the Full Moon at the Mars Hill Campus of
Lowell Observatory, Hendricks Center for Planetary Studies
Auditorium (6:45 pm - 8:00 pm), unless otherwise noted followed
by refreshments, and informal discussion. Meetings are open and free
to the public.
