IC 405 - Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga

This widefield image of the southern portion in the constellation Auriga contains a wealth of deep sky objects. The most prominent is IC 405, or the Flaming Star Nebula. This is the small patch of nebulae at the upper right of the image that contains both red (emission) and blue (reflection) nebulae. Although, both the red and blue nebaule appear as the same object, they are actually located in different regions and created by different processes. The bright star in the center of this nebula, AE Aurigae, is an extremely hot star and its light is so energetic, that it easily ionizes the gas clouds that surround it causing H-Alpha light (red) to be emitted. The bluish region, which is commonly described as purple, is actually a mix of this red and blue light emitted by AE Aurigae, but reflected to us by surrounding dust. This nebula is located approximately 1,500 light years from Earth and spans about 5 light years. Click image to view original size.

The other prominent objects in this image are M38 (open cluster) to the upper left, NGC 1907 (open cluster) directly below M38. Below M38 is diffuse nebulae, IC 417. The small nebulous patch to the left of IC 417 is NGC 1931. The large patch of emission nebula near the lower center of the image is IC 410. M36 (open cluster) is partially shown in this image about halfway down at the left border.

Image Specifications:

     •  Instrument:  Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L @ f3.5
     •  Camera:  Canon 20Da
     •  Filters:  Hutech IDAS LPS (Light Pollution)
     •  Mount:  Losmandy GM-8 Equatorial
     •  Guiding:  SBIG STV Autoguider with Vixen 400mm Guidescope
     •  Time / Date :  December 10, 2006, 8:00PM EDT
     •  Location:  Coyle Field, NJ
     •  Weather:  Clear, 42degF
     •  Primary Exposure :  25 x 2min, ISO 1600, RAW, min-max average combined
     •  Calibration Frames:  9 x 2min, ISO 1600, RAW, average combined
     •  Image Processing :  Images Plus, PixInsightLE, Photoshop CS2