Auriga Experiment: Forget the Flaming Star! (Daniel Erickson)

Auriga Experiment: Forget the Flaming Star!

We are so conditioned. We expect to see certain things when we look at photos: particular shapes, colors. There are iconic images that are seared into our minds. We expect and seldom want surprises. We tend to revolt against images that somehow don't meet these pre-conceived and conditioned image inventories.

This may be one of those images, because I intentionally cut off part of the famous Flaming Star Nebula to get this particular framing (and I bumped up its intensity, as well, just to make the point). I also shuffled the venerated Tadpoles of IC410 off to the corner of the view.

What interested me here was all of the extended faint nebulosity that is often overlooked (or cropped out) when framing up the Flaming Star (or any iconic image, for that matter). What most interested me, of course, were all the special stars (and three nice clusters) that are typically lost when we focus on just 'famous' targets... There is so much more to occupy the mind if you choose to spend the time. In particular, there are four wonderful stars in this image:

16 Aur (K3III), a triple star boasting a nice yellow color,

19 Aur (A5II), a white giant variable.

σ Aur (K4III), a yellow giant,

and at the very bottom of the frame--I almost cropped it off--

φ Aur (K3III), a giant star with a surface temperature that gives it that orange glow I love so much!

The framing of this image may disturb you. It is unexpected. It goes contrary to what you've come to expect. It is precisely for that reason you should not dismiss it outright, but stop and take a look for awhile. Hopefully it will give rise to a number of interesting questions about your perception of reality.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4117473
PixInsight job	VXL0HCVIWID7A93L0VVEA5YZMIBT0IT4
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	05h21m55s.90
RA (top/left)	05h23m22s.38
RA (top/right)	05h08m04s.90
RA (bottom/right)	05h20m34s.24
RA (bottom/left)	05h36m04s.58

Dec (center)	+35°36′32″.1
Dec (top/left)	+38°34′52″.5
Dec (top/right)	+34°38′59″.4
Dec (bottom/right)	+32°38′03″.1
Dec (bottom/left)	+36°27′57″.7

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