Andy Elliott
Well-Known Member
This image shows an area of sky in the constellation of Auriga which I actually started a couple of years ago, but have only recently managed to complete it.
The area of nebulosity in the upper right area of the image is The Flaming Star Nebula (also known as SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31), and is both an emission nebula (the red parts) and a reflection nebula (the blue/white ‘smokey’ area). Flaming Star which is about 5 light-years across, lies about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. Although the central star in the nebula (called ‘AE Aurigae’) is seen to light up the Flaming Star nebula, it was not formed within it, rather, it is known as a runaway star and is believed to have originated in the constellation of Orion in the region of the Orion’s belt.
Towards the bottom left of the image is and open star cluster (NGC 1893) which itself is embedded in nebulosity known as the Tadpole Nebula. It is thought that the star cluster contains about 4600 stars.
The full res image is here, along with the acquisition / processing details: https://astrob.in/rxixcv/0/
Thanks for looking.
The area of nebulosity in the upper right area of the image is The Flaming Star Nebula (also known as SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31), and is both an emission nebula (the red parts) and a reflection nebula (the blue/white ‘smokey’ area). Flaming Star which is about 5 light-years across, lies about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. Although the central star in the nebula (called ‘AE Aurigae’) is seen to light up the Flaming Star nebula, it was not formed within it, rather, it is known as a runaway star and is believed to have originated in the constellation of Orion in the region of the Orion’s belt.
Towards the bottom left of the image is and open star cluster (NGC 1893) which itself is embedded in nebulosity known as the Tadpole Nebula. It is thought that the star cluster contains about 4600 stars.
The full res image is here, along with the acquisition / processing details: https://astrob.in/rxixcv/0/
Thanks for looking.
