IC 405 – The Flaming Star Nebula

# IC 405 – The Flaming Star Nebula

IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula, is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga surrounding the runaway star AE Aurigae. It lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth and is also cataloged as Caldwell 31 and Sharpless 2-229.

First light with QHYCCD miniCAM8 Mono and ToupTek StellaVita.

#### Acquisition
* Subject: IC 405, SH2-229, Caldwell 31
* Location: Palm Harbor, FL; Bortle 7
* Date: 2026-03-21, 2026-03-22
* Lights: 2.9hrs
– 10 x 300s Ha
– 15 x 300s OIII
– 10 x 300s SII
– Total integration: 35 frames x 300s = 10,500 seconds = 2.9 hours
* Dark:
– 30 x 1s
* Flats:
– 15 x 1s Ha
– 15 x 1s OIII
– 15 x 1s SII
* Bias: N/A
* Gain: 80
* Bin: 1×1

#### Equipment
* Mount: ZWO AM5
* Telescope: William Optics GT81IV
– Focal Length: 380mm
* Imaging Camera: QHYCCD miniCAM8 Mono, cooled 0°C
* Filter:
– SII: QHYCCD
– Ha: QHYCCD
– OIII: QHYCCD
* Guide Scope: William Optics UniGuide
* Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120MM Mini
* Pixel Size: 2.9um
* Auto Focuser: None
* Computer: ToupTek StellaVita

#### Processing
* PixInsight 1.9.3
– Weighted Batch Preprocessing
– Color Combination (SHO -> RGB)
– SPCC
– BlurXTerminator
– NoiseXTerminator
– StarXTerminator
– Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch
– Curves Transformation
– Star reintegration