2024/01/04 -- This image is the first time I tried to add additional data and using a different filter, in this case my Optolong L-Pro filter and I think I was successful in bringing out a little more detail and color of the Reflection Nebula of IC405.

2024/01/02 - 1st clear sky for what seems like weeks and my 1st imaging session of the year 2024. I wasn't keen on imaging because it was cold and  I needed to get up early for a strength training session, but I decided to give it a go.  I am glad I did image last night, for the next several days, clouds and rain.


IC 405

The emission nebula IC 405, also known as also Caldwell 31 and the "Flaming Star Nebula", is located near (and illuminated by) the variable star AE Aurigae. It is visible in - but a challenging object for - small telescopes.The Flaming Star Nebula is an emission/reflection nebula, and is located near the emission nebula IC 410, the open cluster M38, and the naked-eye K-class star Hassaleh. The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0'.IC 405 lies about 1,500 light-years away, and is about 5 light-years across.The proper motion of the illuminating star, AE Aurigae, can be traced back to the area of Orion's Belt. AE Aurigae's story is linked to another star, Mu Columbae. Around 2.7 million years ago, these two stars had a close encounter with one another in the Great Orion Nebula. The encounter was so close that both were ejected from the Orion complex.Currently these stars are 66 degrees away from each other in the sky. But AE Auriga is certainly the more glamorous of the pair, since it just happens to be moving through a region of gas as and dust that makes it look like a "Flaming Star."

@information from SkySafari

Additional information:

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, it is one of the true gems of the winter night sky and a popular target for amateur astronomers.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 name Flaming Star comes from the German astronomer and astrophotographer Max Wolf (1863-1932). Wolf found the nebula while photographing Nova Aurigae 1891. He described the star AE Aurigae as a “burning body from which several enormous curved flames seem to break out like gigantic prominences,” noting that the “flaming star” seemed to be physically associated with the nebulosity.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 Flaming Star Nebula was discovered by the German-born American astronomer John Martin Schaeberle in 1892. It was independently found by astrophotographers Max Wolf and Eugen von Gothard.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 AurigaeAE 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 solar. 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 (Hatysa). 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.The first evidence for interaction between AE Aurigae and the nebular material of IC 405 was detected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), the first infrared space telescope, in the mid-1990s. The bow shock was directly imaged by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2006.LocationThe Flaming Star Nebula is easy to find because it lies within a conspicuous winter asterism, Auriga’s hexagon. It can be observed in a small telescope. In exceptionally good conditions, it can be spotted in a 2.4-inch telescope, but if there is any light pollution, it may not be visible even in larger instruments.The dominant pattern of the celestial Charioteer – a large hexagon – is formed by Capella, the sixth brightest star in the sky, with Menkalinan, Almaaz, Mahasim, Hassaleh, and Elnath. The last of these stars, Elnath, is not part of the constellation Auriga. It marks the northern horn of the Bull and is the second brightest star in Taurus (after Aldebaran).

the above information nation is from the following website:  https://www.constellation-guide.com/flaming-star-nebula-ic-405-sh-2-229-caldwell-31-in-auriga/