Capturing a runaway star - AE Aurigae & The Flaming Star IC405 (north.stargazer)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Auriga (Aur) · Contains: AE Aur · Flaming Star Nebula · IC 405 · LBN 791 · LBN 795 · LBN 796 · LDN 1510 · Sh2-229

Capturing a runaway star - AE Aurigae & The Flaming Star IC405

Deep in the heart of the Flaming Star Nebula (IC405) is AE Auriga, a super hot O-type star. But what you might not know is that it was likely formed in the heart of the Orion complex, many light years away, and was somehow booted out some 2.5M years ago!

I knew that stars (like atoms, planets, my hairline, and everything else in the universe) are in constant motion... usually spinning around the galactic core and dragging us along with them. But sometimes weird things (like supernovae) can launch them in all directions at amazing speeds (even for a star). AE Auriga is thought to be one of these "runaway stars".

I used to think the Flaming Star Nebula was a fairly dull chunk of (mostly red) hydrogen and I'd only photographed it together with some of its more popular neighbours. A recent mono Ha test image I took turned out really well, so it made me look closer... and I'm glad I did!

Aside from the larger flame-like emission nebula that surrounds it, this central Star is also responsible for a reflection nebula within the core. At first I thought it was Oxygen gas because it was being picked up by my Oiii filter. In reality, the interstellar medium surrounding AE Aurigae is rich in carbon dust, which is acting like a sort of mirror; amplifying the natural blue glow of this massive hot star.

This is an SHO composition (with HOO stars - didn't have time for RGB yet). 12h20' of combined exposure using my 80mm refractor and ASI2600MM + 3nm filters.

Hope you enjoy it.

ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Light Polluted skies
The refractors!
Canadian Astrophotography

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5433192
PixInsight job	2SSISMJPI8R9ZR83LNLCDA8XPO071KOE
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h16m04s.432
RA (top/left)	05h15m53s.521
RA (top/right)	05h20m03s.530
RA (bottom/right)	05h16m15s.466
RA (bottom/left)	05h12m04s.540

Dec (center)	+34°20′39″.67
Dec (top/left)	+33°29′25″.20
Dec (top/right)	+34°06′55″.51
Dec (bottom/right)	+35°11′53″.22
Dec (bottom/left)	+34°33′53″.20

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Capturing a runaway star - AE Aurigae & The Flaming Star IC405

Capturing a runaway star - AE Aurigae & The Flaming Star IC405

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Capturing a runaway star - AE Aurigae & The Flaming Star IC405

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