In the image above, north is to the right and east is up.

This image shows the southern part of the constellation Cepheus as well as the borders to Cygnus and Lacerta on top. It shows a stretch of the northern Milky Way and therefore filled with nebulae, both dark and bright, and open star clusters. NGC objects in this image are star clusters, IC and Sh2 objects designate red emission nebulae and B stand's for Barnard*s catalogue of dark nebulae.

The largest object in this image is IC 1396, a primarily photographic emission nebula, 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 (IC). Its hot young stars of the spectral type O and B blast free their local environment, resulting in the dark inclusions designated Barnard 161, 162, 163, 365 and 367. The faint red emission is difficult to detect visually, even in large aperture telescopes.

Milky Way Vista - Cygnus to Cassiopeia, zoom lens photograph.
IC 1396, HαRGB image.
Sh2-129, HαRGB image.
Sh2-132, HαRGB image.