Meet Sh 2-140, a beautiful H ii region that lies on the southeast edge of Lynds 2304 — a dark nebula. Also pictured nearby is the star cluster, dubbed a IC 1396 (also known as Trumpler 37), which, in turn, is situated near the edge of the Cepheus bubble (this immensely large expanding shell of interstellar materials, like gas and dust, surrounds something called the Cep OB2 association). The whole lot, including the famous Elephant's Trunk nebula, can be found about 3,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cepheus.
This image was captured by Adam Block, from the Mount Lemmon Sky Center. Make sure you take a moment to appreciate some of his other work
See a larger image here..
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