AE Aurigae (abbreviated as AE Aur) is a

runaway star In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar velocities in the Milky Way and its satellites as well as t ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Auriga AURIGA (''Antenna Ultracriogenica Risonante per l'Indagine Gravitazionale Astronomica'') is an ultracryogenic resonant bar gravitational wave detector in Italy. It is at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclea ...

; it lights the Flaming Star Nebula.

Description

AE Aurigae is a blue O-type main sequence dwarf with a mean

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's li ...

of +6.0. It is classified as an Orion type

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

and its brightness varies irregularly between magnitudes +5.78 and +6.08. It is approximately 1,300

light-years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. AE Aur is a

that might have been ejected during a collision of two binary star groups. This collision, which also is credited with ejecting

Mu Columbae Mu Columbae (μ Col, μ Columbae) is a star in the constellation of Columba. It is one of the few O-class stars that are visible to the unaided eye. The star is known to lie approximately 1,300 light years from the Solar System (with an e ...

and possibly

53 Arietis 53 Arietis (abbreviated 53 Ari) is a variable star in the northern constellation of Aries. ''53 Arietis'' is the Flamsteed designation; it also bears the variable star designation UW Arietis. It is a B-type main sequence star with a ste ...

, has been traced to the

Trapezium cluster The Trapezium or Orion Trapezium Cluster, also known by its Bayer designation of Theta1 Orionis, is a tight open cluster of stars in the heart of the Orion Nebula, in the constellation of Orion. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei. On 4 Februa ...

in the

Orion Nebula The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the nig ...

two million years ago. The binary

Iota Orionis Iota Orionis (ι Orionis, abbreviated ι Ori) is a multiple star system in the equatorial constellation of Orion the hunter. It is the eighth-brightest member of Orion with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.77 and also the brightest ...

may have been the other half of this collision. IC405 Flaming Star Nebula from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Schulman Telescope courtesy Adam Block

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Schulman Telescope courtesy Adam Block

AE Aur is seen to light up the Flaming Star nebula, but it was not formed within it. Instead it is passing through the nebula at high speed and producing a violent bow shock and high energy electromagnetic radiation.

Companions

Possibly due to its runaway star nature, AE Aurigae has no physical companion stars, although some nearby stars have been erroneously identified as ones. A theoretical companion 1000 AU (0.016 light-years) away from AE Aurigae would have an angular separation of less than 2.5 arcseconds and would probably be lost in the star's glare.

References

1712 In the Swedish calendar it began as a leap year starting on Monday and remained so until Thursday, February 29. By adding a second leap day (Friday, February 30) Sweden reverted to the Julian calendar and the rest of the year (from Saturday, M ...

Aurigae, AE

Description

Companions

References

External links