Nebulae
Flaming Star Nebula
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) around the star AE Aurigae in Auriga, photographed by Pete Lawrence.
Target details
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405, also Sh2-229 and Caldwell 31) is a mix of glowing gas and reflecting dust in Auriga, about 1,500 light-years away. It surrounds the bluish star AE Aurigae, which lights it up. The nebula shines at around magnitude +6.0 and covers roughly 37 by 19 arcminutes of sky.
Target details
The Flaming Star Nebula (also known as IC 405, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31) is an emission/reflection nebula. It surrounds the irregular variable star AE Aurigae and is located near the emission nebula IC 410, the open clusters M38 and M36, and the K-class star Iota Aurigae.
The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the Orion's Belt area. The nebula is about 5 light-years across.
Capture details
Data captured 6th & 7th January, 2018.
Data was captured as a 4 pane (2x2) mosaic.
38x 10 minute exposures with Ha filter.
28x 10 minute exposures with Oiii filter.
34x 10 minute exposures with Sii filter.
Equipment details
Skywatcher Quattro 200 CF
NEQ6 Pro
Atik 428EX Mono
Skywatcher ST-80
QHY5L-II
Processing details
This image was processed in Pixinsight & Lightroom.
Processing Individual Panes
Calibration and Stacking in Pixinsight using Batch PreProcessing
Dynamic Crop - To remove black edges & integration artifacts. (Each Channel)
Dynamic Background Extraction - To remove gradients. (Each Channel)
Deconvolution - To bring out some fine detail & tighten stars, 50 iterations. (Each Channel)
Multiscale Linear Transform - Noise reduction. (Each Channel)
SHO-AIP Script - To combine the channels for each pane using the SHO Palette.
To Create Mosaic
Star Alignment - To create mosaic layout and registration data.
Gradient Merge Mosaic - To create mosiac image.
Processing Mosaic
Histogram Transformation - To stretch the image
Curves Transformation - To adjust colours, multiple runs with various colourmasks.
Histogram Transformation - To clip blacks slightly.
UnsharpMask - To sharpen with mask in place to exclude stars & background.
Curves Transformation - To boost contrast.
Dark Structure Enhance - To boost detail in dark areas.
Histogram Transformation - To clip blacks slightly.
Export as JPEG and import into Lightroom.
Clip Blacks (-15)
Increase Vibrance (+50)
Export final JPEG for upload.
Quick facts
- What is Flaming Star Nebula?
- The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405, also Sh2-229 and Caldwell 31) is a mix of glowing gas and reflecting dust in Auriga, about 1,500 light-years away. It surrounds the bluish star AE Aurigae, which lights it up.
- What are its catalogue names?
- M38, M36, IC 405, IC 410, Caldwell 31
- When was this photo taken?
- 7 January 2018
- What equipment was used?
- Skywatcher Quattro 200 CF, NEQ6 Pro, Atik 428EX Mono, Skywatcher ST-80, QHY5L-II
- Where was it taken from?
- Lisburn, Northern Ireland.