APOD: 2026 August 20 – The Elephant’s Trunk in Cepheus

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 20 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. The Elephant’s Trunk in Cepheus Explanation: 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.

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space Date August 20, 2026 Credit and Copyright: Eddie Sgarbossa Authors & editors: Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Robert Nemiroff, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC , NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.