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The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) is an emission and reflection nebula located approximately 1,500 light-years away in the northern constellation Auriga. The nebula surrounds the hot blue variable star AE Aurigae. With an apparent magnitude of 6.0 and an apparent size of 37 by 10 arcminutes, it is one of the true gems of the winter night sky and a popular target for amateur astronomers.

IC 405 is illuminated by the young O-type main sequence dwarf AE Aurigae. It was named the Flaming Star Nebula because it contains extensive smoke-like filaments that make AE Aurigae look like it is on fire in long-exposure photographs. The nebular material that looks like smoke is mostly composed of hydrogen, but the dark filaments are made up of carbon-rich dust.

The name Flaming Star comes from the German astronomer and Astro photographer Max Wolf (1863-1932). Wolf found the nebula while photographing Nova Aurigae 1891. He described the star AE Aurigae as a “burning body from which several enormous curved flames seem to break out like gigantic prominences,” noting that the “flaming star” seemed to be physically associated with the nebulosity.

The Flaming Star Nebula is about five light-years across. It is composed of different regions that glow in red, purple, and blue tones in images.

The hot blue star AE Aurigae emits so much light that it knocks away electrons from the gas that surrounds it, ionizing the nebula. When a high-energy proton emitted from the hot star recaptures an electron, red light is often emitted and the nebula glows red. The red regions comprise the emission nebula. Other parts of the nebula glow in bluish tones because the blue light of the hot star is reflected by the surrounding dust. The blue parts make up the reflection nebula. The purple parts of the nebula are a mix of emission and reflection regions.

The Flaming Star Nebula was discovered by the German-born American astronomer John Martin Schaeberle in 1892. It was independently found by astrophotographers Max Wolf and Eugen von Gothard.

The nebula is catalogued as Caldwell 31 in the Caldwell catalogue of deep sky objects visible in amateur telescopes. It has the designation Sharpless 229 (Sh2-229) in the Sharpless catalogue of H II regions.

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