I was initially interested in imaging this area to see how these two nebulae may be interacting, similarly to interactive galaxies. To my surprise, when I read more about them, (see brief description below) they are not remotely interacting!
IC 405 is listed as being 1,500 light-years away, while IC 410 is 12,000 light-years away. This means that the two objects are not related at all; their apparent proximity is simply a chance juxtaposition. Also, though they appear to be similarly sized, IC 410 at 100 light-years is far larger than IC 405 at 5 light-years. Pretty amazing how our eyes can be deceiving. I purposely minimized the stars to let the nebulosity standout, despite only 2.8 hrs of Ha data. Once I can get clear skies under a new moon, I plan to completely redo this image with more Ha and OIII data.
- IC 405 (the nebula to the right) is also known as the Flaming Star Nebula. It is both an emission and reflection nebula. What makes this nebula different from most other emission nebulae is that the primary source of its glow, AE Aurigae, was not born within this nebula. In fact, the star has been traced back to having come from the Trapezium region of the Orion Nebula.
- IC 410 is a more "traditional" emission nebula, i.e., it is a stellar nursery. It is about 100 light-years across and is glowing from the radiation of stars in the open cluster NGC 1893 embedded within. A couple of notable features are the "Tadpoles" (visible above the largest dark region within IC 410), which are estimated to be ten light-years long and possible sites of ongoing star formation.
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