The Flaming Star and Tadpole nebulas in SHO (IC405 and IC410). This is the 2nd of a series of two panel mosaics taken with my 115mm APO (f/5.2) with Astrodon 3nm Narrowband filters and my new QHY168M APS-C Mono camera. This is likely the last upgrade for this OTA and it will be replace some day with a better APO. Each panel was 30 hours of exposure so the image is a total of 60 hours of exposure.
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC405, right), located in the constellation Auriga, is illuminated by the bright variable star AE Aurigae. The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500
light-years away from
Earth.
[2] It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the
Orion's Belt area.
[2] The nebula is about 5
light-years across.
IC410 (left) appears to be right next, but is in fact 12,000ly away, and much larger (100ly across) and is a rather faint emission nebula. It also features two remarkable inhabitants of the cosmic pond of gas and dust below and left of center,
the tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds
NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the
intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing gas. Composed of denser cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and are likely sites of ongoing
star formation.
Sculpted by winds and radiation from the cluster stars, their heads are outlined by bright ridges of
ionized gas while their tails trail away from the cluster's central region.
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