At this time of the year various objects within the Orion Constellation are perhaps the most popular astrophotography targets.  Notwithstanding, a few days after imaging The Great Orion Nebula myself early in the New Year, I slewed my camera some 65^o further north to the Auriga constellation, location of many other fascinating objects, some of which two years ago I captured in a two panel widefield mosaic.  This time it was time to concentrate on just one of those objects, the exciting IC405 AKA the Flaming Star Nebula.      

This emission and reflection nebula is a glowing cloud of gas and dust that is illuminated by a  powerfully bright blue variable star, AE Aurigae.  The object’s epithet arises from the brightly lit ripples of gas and dust at the top of the image, illuminated by the aforesaid AE Aurigae and glowing hydrogen emission.  By reducing the dominant reddish hydrogen glow in the image, the full impact bright blue light from AE Aurega can be better appreciated (see image below).   

Though some considerable distance from Orion, studies now indicate that the star AE Auriga was probably itself ejected after a collision two million years ago from the Triangulum region of The Great Orion Nebula and, as a runaway star has now made its way to Auriga – what a small world!