Flaming Star Nebula

Nebula in Auriga · 1,500 light-years

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Type	Nebula
Constellation	Auriga
Right ascension	5h 16m 29s
Declination	+34° 21′
Object distance	1,500 light-years
Apparent size	50′ (arc-minutes)
Approx. true diameter	21.8 light-years across
Also known as	C31 · IC 405

Caldwell 31, popularly known as the Flaming Star Nebula, is a nebula (IC 405) in Auriga — a luminous cloud of interstellar gas and dust. It appears as number 31 in the Caldwell catalogue, Sir Patrick Moore's 1995 list of 109 bright deep-sky objects for amateur astronomers. It spans roughly 50 arc-minutes on the sky. It is one of the showpiece objects Sir Patrick Moore chose for his Caldwell list of bright targets the Messier catalogue left out.

Although it appears about 50′ wide on the sky, its real span is roughly 21.8 light-years — the difference is a measure of how far away it lies.

Observing Flaming Star Nebula

Flaming Star Nebula lies in the constellation Auriga and is best placed in the evening sky around December. Its maximum altitude above the horizon depends on your latitude. It is best placed for observers in the northern hemisphere, and sits low for those far south. Note that the listed magnitude is spread across the whole object — diffuse galaxies and nebulae are often harder to see than the number alone suggests, so dark, moonless skies help a great deal.

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Sources

Position, magnitude and angular size from the OpenNGC catalogue (Mattia Verga).
Object identity cross-referenced with SIMBAD (CDS, Strasbourg).
Image credits and the original observation source are linked with each photograph.

Related objects

Orion Nebula — nebula
Ring Nebula — nebula
Eagle Nebula — nebula
Carina Nebula — nebula
Lagoon Nebula — nebula