APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

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APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by APOD Robot » Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:05 am

Image IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula

Explanation: Rippling dust and gas lanes give the Flaming Star Nebula its name. The orange and purple colors of the nebula are present in different regions and are created by different processes. The bright star AE Aurigae, visible toward the image left, is so hot it is blue, emitting light so energetic it knocks electrons away from surrounding gas. When a proton recaptures an electron, red light is frequently emitted (depicted here in orange). The purple region's color is a mix of this red light and blue light emitted by AE Aurigae but reflected to us by surrounding dust. The two regions are referred to as emission nebula and reflection nebula, respectively. Pictured here in the Hubble color palette, the Flaming Star Nebula, officially known as IC 405, lies about 1500 light years distant, spans about 5 light years, and is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga).

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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Boomer12k » Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:31 am

It kinda looks like an orange aurora as it looks like it is kinda "hanging" over things...


Nice image.
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Ann » Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am

The Flaming Star Nebula in narrowband today's APOD.
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405), the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410)
and the intervening Jumping School of Fish. Photo: Reinhold Wittich.



















It is no secret that I personally much prefer RGB (+ Hα) imagery over narrowband photography. So it goes without saying that I like Reinhold Wittich's picture better than Eric Coles and Mel Helm's.

I find the entire "skyscape" with IC 405, IC 410 and the Jumping School of Fish so attractive. Okay, I don't know if the group of five bright stars between IC 405 and IC 410 is really called the Jumping School of Fish, but such a name was suggested to me in Swedish, and since then I've thought of those stars like that.

(You can even see in Reinhold Wittich's photo that one of the stars in the the Jumping School of Fish is bluer than the others. That star is IQ Aurigae, and it is classified as an A0 Si type of star, because of the strong silicon lines in its spectrum. But it is as hot as a B4-type star and very blue. It is one of my favorite stars!) :D

Back to the APOD. Very fine details in the structure of the nebula can be seen in the APOD. It is easy to see that the molecular cloud was just sitting there until the runaway star AE Aurigae plowed into the cloud at high speed.

The Pleiades small.png
The Pleiades small.png (352.18 KiB) Viewed 3825 times

Seeing the effects of the runaway star AE Auriage barging into a molecular cloud and creating the Flaming Star Nebula reminds me of the Pleiades, seen in a beautiful picturre by Adam Block at right. The Pleiades, too, have collided with a molecular cloud, although at a much more leisurely pace. And while the bright stars of the Pleiades are hot and blue, they are not hot enough to ionize the molecular cloud they are visiting and turn it into a red emission nebula. But a blue reflection nebula is certainly nice enough! :D

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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by orin stepanek » Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:11 pm

IC405hp_ColesHelm_960.jpg
IC405hp_ColesHelm_960.jpg (33.32 KiB) Viewed 3784 times
I like it: it kind of looks like a dragons head! :wink:
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Chris Peterson » Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:30 pm

Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am It is no secret that I personally much prefer RGB (+ Hα) imagery over narrowband photography. So it goes without saying that I like Reinhold Wittich's picture better than Eric Coles and Mel Helm's.
Your aesthetic sense is noted... but today's image, in comparison with the one you prefer, certainly demonstrates just how much more information is available to us in the narrowband image. Just how much of what's going on in this region is simply lost when we limit our image to RGB. Which is why, of course, we rarely see scientific images collected with filters that match human eyesight.
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by MarkBour » Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:52 pm

Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405), the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410)
and the intervening Jumping School of Fish. Photo: Reinhold Wittich.
I find the entire "skyscape" with IC 405, IC 410 and the Jumping School of Fish so attractive. Okay, I don't know if the group of five bright stars between IC 405 and IC 410 is really called the Jumping School of Fish, but such a name was suggested to me in Swedish, and since then I've thought of those stars like that. ...

Ann
Interesting. Is the idea for the name that they appear like they are in the process of jumping from IC 405 to IC 410 [or vice versa]?
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Ann » Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:33 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:30 pm
Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am It is no secret that I personally much prefer RGB (+ Hα) imagery over narrowband photography. So it goes without saying that I like Reinhold Wittich's picture better than Eric Coles and Mel Helm's.
Your aesthetic sense is noted... but today's image, in comparison with the one you prefer, certainly demonstrates just how much more information is available to us in the narrowband image.
I believe I said that.
Ann wrote:
Very fine details in the structure of the nebula can be seen in the APOD.
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Chris Peterson » Tue Jan 07, 2020 10:41 pm

Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:33 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:30 pm
Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am It is no secret that I personally much prefer RGB (+ Hα) imagery over narrowband photography. So it goes without saying that I like Reinhold Wittich's picture better than Eric Coles and Mel Helm's.
Your aesthetic sense is noted... but today's image, in comparison with the one you prefer, certainly demonstrates just how much more information is available to us in the narrowband image.
I believe I said that.
Ann wrote:
Very fine details in the structure of the nebula can be seen in the APOD.
Ann
You sort of hinted at it obliquely. I thought it was important to point out just how profoundly the pair of images you presented demonstrate this important point.
Chris

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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by Ann » Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:31 am

MarkBour wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:52 pm
Ann wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 7:28 am
The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405), the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410)
and the intervening Jumping School of Fish. Photo: Reinhold Wittich.
I find the entire "skyscape" with IC 405, IC 410 and the Jumping School of Fish so attractive. Okay, I don't know if the group of five bright stars between IC 405 and IC 410 is really called the Jumping School of Fish, but such a name was suggested to me in Swedish, and since then I've thought of those stars like that. ...

Ann
Interesting. Is the idea for the name that they appear like they are in the process of jumping from IC 405 to IC 410 [or vice versa]?
No idea, Mark! :wink: By the way, when I think of it, I think that the name suggested for these five stars was actually "The Jumping Minnow". So just one fish and not five. Where is the jumping fish emoji when you need it?

Ann

Edit: Now I remember. The group of stars are called The Leaping Minnow, not the Jumping Minnow.

Has a nice ring to it, no?
Last edited by Ann on Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: IC 405: The Flaming Star Nebula (2020 Jan 07)

Post by MarkBour » Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:01 pm

Ann wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:31 am No idea, Mark! :wink: By the way, when I think of it, I think that the name suggested for these five stars was actually "The Jumping Minnow". So just one fish and not five. Where is the jumping fish emoji when you need it?

Ann
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Ah. A nice bait fish ... good way to catch a galaxy!
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