A Runaway Star

A runaway star careening through space at 36 miles per second, emitting a storm of radiation that energizes the nebula it ploughs through. While this scenario sounds like science fiction, it can be found easily in the night sky in the form of the Flaming Star Nebula. IC405 is both an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga. The central star, AE Aurigae, is a runaway and probably began its journey in the area of Orion’s belt, perhaps as part of a high radial velocity binary system from which it was ejected when its companion went supernova. The nebula itself is about 9 light years across, and is a turbulent mix of gas and dust, The presence of dust in the region of the star suggests that it only recently entered the nebula and that the period of the cloud’s most extensive modification lies ahead. This image is a stak of 4.5 hours total integration, processed in Siril and Affinity.