IC 405, THE FLAMING STAR, on 2023-12-12
This photo was taken in Kyle, Texas, under Bortle 5.9 skies, through a 6-inch f/4 Telescope, on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount, with a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. Plus an Optolong L Pro Light Polution Filter. The total image acquisition time is: 07 hrs 04 min 00 sec. Full Size View Full size files are very large and can take a minute to download. After downloading the full-size picture to zoom in or out on a computer hold down the Ctrl key and use the scroll mouse button, or you can press the + or - key.
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC
405) is an emission and reflection nebula located approximately 1,500
light-years away in the northern constellation Auriga. The nebula surrounds the
hot blue variable star AE Aurigae. With an apparent magnitude of 6.0 and an
apparent size of 37 by 10 arcminutes. IC 405 is illuminated by the young O-type
main sequence dwarf AE Aurigae. It was named the Flaming Star Nebula because it
contains extensive smoke-like filaments that make AE Aurigae look like it is on
fire in long-exposure photographs. The nebular material that looks like smoke is
mostly composed of hydrogen, but the dark filaments are made up of carbon-rich
dust. The Flaming Star Nebula is about five light-years across. It is composed
of different regions that glow in red, purple, and blue tones in images. The hot
blue star AE Aurigae emits so much light that it knocks away electrons from the
gas that surrounds it, ionizing the nebula. When a high-energy proton emitted
from the hot star recaptures an electron, red light is often emitted and the
nebula glows red. The red regions comprise the emission nebula. Other parts of
the nebula glow in bluish tones because the blue light of the hot star is
reflected by the surrounding dust. The blue parts make up the reflection nebula.
The purple parts of the nebula are a mix of emission and reflection regions. The
nebula is catalogued as Caldwell 31 in the Caldwell catalogue of deep sky
objects visible in amateur telescopes. It has the designation Sharpless 229
(Sh2-229) in the Sharpless catalogue of H II regions. AE Aurigae is a young main
sequence star of the spectral type O9.5V. It is an exceptionally hot, massive,
and luminous star. It has a mass 23 times that of the Sun and a radius 7.47
times the Sun. With an effective temperature of 33,000 K, it is 59,000 times
more luminous than the Sun. Even though it is only a few million years old, AE
Aurigae will not live very long. O-type stars burn through their supply of
hydrogen fuel fast due to their high mass and go out as supernovae in less than
10 million years. AE Aurigae is classified as an Orion variable star. It
exhibits irregular variations in luminosity and its brightness varies from
magnitude 5.78 to 6.08. The star lights up the Flaming Star Nebula, but the
nebula is not its birthplace. The two have different radial velocities. AE
Aurigae is a runaway star believed to have originated in the Trapezium Cluster
in the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). Runaway stars pass through the interstellar
medium at supersonic velocities. Based on measurements of the radial velocity
and proper motion of AE Aurigae, astronomers believe that the star’s point of
origin intersects with the multiple-star system Iota Orionis. AE Aurigae may
have been expelled during a collision of two massive binary systems about 2-3
million years ago. Iota Orionis in Orion’s Sword may have taken part in the
collision. The hot blue stars Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis might have also been
ejected in the same collision. AE Aurigae has only recently run into IC 405 and
is now interacting with the dense molecular nebula. Once it leaves the nebula,
IC 405 will fade. As the star passes through IC 405 at high speed, it creates a
powerful bow shock, producing a large number of high-energy protons that can be
detected in X-rays. In 2012, a team of astronomers detected X-ray emissions from
the bow shock. This was the first instance of the detection of X-ray emission
from a bow shock created by a runaway star.
