Cederblad 214 is a star forming region in the constellation of Cepheus. The giant cloud of gas and dust absorbs UV radiation from its hot, young stars and re-emits it as visible light. A cavity has been eroded in the cloud by the stellar winds from those stars. We are looking past dark foreground clouds into the more distant cavity. The "elephant trunks" on the edges of the cavity were formed when denser globules of gas and dust resisted erosion by the stellar winds. (Details are shown below.) Similar elephant trunks can be seen in the Eagle nebula, NGC 6820, the Pelican nebula, and IC 1396.

152 minutes L and 144 minutes RGB on 2014-09-27 combined with 288 minutes through an Astrodon 3 nm H-a filter on 2011-12-11 all using a QSI 583 from northern New Jersey through an Astro-Physics 155mm refractor at f5.4.

The "Guppies" elephant trunks in CED 214, a detail from the top image.

More elephant trunks in CED 214, a detail from the top image.

Cederblad 214 in narrowband hydrogen-alpha light.

288 minutes through an Astrodon 3 nm H-a filter using a QSI 583 on 2011-12-11 from northern New Jersey through an Astro-Physics 155mm refractor at f5.4. North is up. ©2011