Here’s a reasonably processed stack of 71 subs of IC 1396...

Here’s a reasonably processed stack of 71 subs of IC 1396 in the Constellation Cepheus, cropped to show some of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (structure on the left) and the clouds and filaments of dark interstellar dust (B161 is the large dark blob with wispy strands blowing off it toward the top) that drift in front of this massive region of ionized hydrogen—all that lighter gray stuff, basically everything in this frame except where it begins to thin out in the lower right. By “massive” I mean it spans 3 degrees in the sky. To put this size in perspective, the angle covered by our full moon is about 31 arcminutes or 1/2°. IC 1396 is 3° or 6 times the diameter of a full moon. And it really stands out in narrowband!

Side Note on Stacking: astro-imaging involves multiple steps, requiring many—I typically go with 20 - 100 Light Frames, which are the exposures you take of the astronomical target—the nebula, galaxy, IC 1396 in this case. (We say “sub-exposure” or “subs” because all of these will be combined into one primary exposure). Normally the Light Frames will be individually calibrated with additional exposures taken specifically to reduce or eliminate sensor read noise, fixed pattern noise, vignetting, dust, and other unwanted stuff. These are the Calibration Frames–Dark Frames, Flat Frames, Flat Dark Frames, and Bias Frames. Check out Cuiv’s video (of Cuiv, the Lazy Geek astro channel) for more on calibration frames: https://youtu.be/UmmTuIEW94M