In the image above, north is to the left and east is down.

IC 1396 is a large, primarily photographic emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, which spans 170 x 140 arcmins on photographs. There is a scattered galactic star cluster superimposed on the nebula, which is designated by the same catalog number, 1396 in the Index Catalog. Its hot young stars of the spectral type O and B blast free their local environment, resulting in the dark inclusions which can be seen in photographs of the nebula. The faint red emission is difficult to detect visually, even in large aperture telescopes.

IC 1396, which this image is part of.