Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) - Auriga

Object Data: This image is centered on RA: 05h 15m 25s, Dec: +34° 05' 35" in the southern part of the constellation of Auriga. The bright blue star to the north of this image, AE Auriga, is the illuminating source for the faint nebulous region called the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405). This dust and gas cloud is interesting in that it consists of glowing ionized gas overlaid by lanes of dust which are not energised, but instead reflect the light from AE Auriga in a bluish glow. AE Auriga is a rapidly moving star that originated in the Orion region and is only a 'passing visitor' to the IC 405 dust and gas cloud. It is moving through this cloud constantly and in the future will leave it dark once more.

Date: 10/11/99
Location: Southern France
Conditions: calm, mod dew, transparency=6, seeing=5.
Optics: AP 155 EDF f/7 with 4" focuser and integral field flattener
Mount: AP 900 GTO on Portable Pier
Autoguiding: SBIG ST-4 tracking AP 80mm f/11 guidescope
Camera: Nikon F2 with gas purge into the film transport chamber.
Film: Kodak Ektapress Multispeed PJM-2 (hypered)
Filtration: None
Exposure: 4x 70 minutes

Enhancement: Four negatives were scanned using a Polaroid Sprintscan 35 Plus and digitally stacked in Picture Window, then further enhanced in Photoshop.

Notes: Transparency was only moderate for these exposures. Seeing was also only moderate, however at least it was a significant improvement on the previous three nights. During these exposures there was a big thunderstorm about 40 miles away with bright flashes across the sky every few seconds.




