IC405 - Flaming star nebula

IC 405 is a diffuse nebula visible in the constellation of Auriga. It is a nebula that is elusive to direct observation but very well visible in long-exposure photographs, located 500 parsecs (1,630 light-years) away; in its direction lies a fifth-magnitude blue star known as AE Aurigae, an enigmatic variable star, probably one of the so-called “runaway” stars born in the Orion Nebula region about 2.7 million years ago and since scattered across the Milky Way. IC 405 shines from the radiation it receives from AE Aurigae, which ionises its gas and gives it a red colour; the blue patches, on the other hand, are due to the star's blue light reflecting off dark dust. IC 405 appears connected to other nebulosity systems, in particular IC 410, visible one degree to the south-east, although in reality these are objects much farther apart than they appear.