Locomotoring

Located in the Perseus arm of our Milky Way, the Flaming Star and Tadpole nebula appear in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer). The roundish one to the right is called the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410). The spiral one on the left is called the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405). They seem deceptively close. The Tadpole is the larger of the two at 100 light years across and is 12,000 light years away. The bright region of the Flaming Star is 5 light years across and 1500 light years away. The two are over 10,000 light years apart. These are a result of 4-5 hours of integration across three nights in early Feb, right after the full moon. At least one of the nights, the sky was awash in moon-light.

Since the last shoot of Rosette Nebula in late January, we had opened up the mount and tightened up the screws that control the worm gear and as a result, we had less trouble with guiding. There wasn’t anything we could do with the bright moon. There are so few clear days in the Feb that we didn’t want to miss the chance. I suspect that the signal to noise ratio didn’t improve with longer integration.

Incidentally, the brightest star in Auriga constellation is Capella. In Hindu mythology, Capella is the heart of Brahma, the creator. Hindu mythology also recognizes Auriga as the charioteer!!! I wonder how these astronomical mythologies cross polinated between the Greeks and Indians.