A star that was kicked out of its birthplace is really lighting things up. The supergiant star illuminates a cloud of gas and dust, creating a colorful display known as the Flaming Star Nebula.
The nebula is in Auriga the charioteer, which is in the northeast at nightfall, marked by the bright star Capella. The nebula is to the lower right of Capella, and is an easy target for small telescopes.
The star that’s responsible for the nebula is AE Aurigae, and it’s pretty amazing. It’s more than 20 times as massive as the Sun, and about 60,000 times brighter.
It probably was expelled from a stellar nursery in Orion as part of a ballet involving four stars. It got such a big “kick” that it’s a runaway — it’s moving far faster than most of the stars in the Milky Way. And right now, it’s moving through a cloud of gas and dust that’s several light-years across — the material that makes up the nebula.
The surface of AE Aurigae is tens of thousands of degrees hotter than the Sun’s. That’s one of the keys to making the nebula shine, in shades of red and blue.
Stars that are so hot produce a lot of ultraviolet light. It rips apart atoms of hydrogen. When the atoms come back together, they emit red light. And the blue light is a reflection — visible light from the star reflecting off small grains of carbon and other molecules.
Combined, the red and blue make the nebula look like it’s on fire — the Flaming Star Nebula.
Script by Damond Benningfield
Nyota aliyetupwa nje ya nchi yake ya kuzaliwa anaangaza mambo. Nyota hiyo kubwa sana huangaza wingu la gesi na vumbi, na hivyo kutokeza mwangaza wenye rangi nyingi unaoitwa Flaming Star Nebula. Nebula ya Auriga, au Msafiri wa Magari, ni sehemu ya kaskazini-mashariki ya dunia, na ina nyota ya Capella. Nebula hiyo iko chini kulia ya Capella, na ni shabaha rahisi kwa darubini-upeo ndogo. Nyota inayosababisha nebula hiyo ni AE Aurigae, na ni ya kushangaza sana. Ni kubwa mara 20 kuliko jua na ni kubwa mara 60,000 kuliko jua. Yaelekea ilitolewa katika chumba cha kulea nyota katika Orion kama sehemu ya dansi ya dansi ya nyota nne. Ilipata "kick" kubwa sana hivi kwamba ni mbio - inazunguka kwa kasi zaidi kuliko nyota nyingi katika Mstari wa Maziwa. Na sasa hivi, inazunguka wingu la gesi na vumbi lenye upana wa miaka kadhaa ya nuru - nyenzo inayotengeneza nebula. Uso wa AE Aurigae ni joto zaidi ya digrii elfu kadhaa kuliko ule wa Jua. Hiyo ni mojawapo ya funguo za kufanya nebula hiyo iangaze, katika rangi nyekundu na bluu. Nyota zenye joto kubwa hutokeza mnururisho mwingi wa ultraviolet. Huvunja-vunja atomu za hidrojeni. Atomu hizo zinapokusanyika tena, hutoa nuru nyekundu. Na nuru ya bluu ni mwangaza unaoonekana kutoka kwa nyota unaoonyeshwa na chembe ndogo za kaboni na molekuli nyingine. Pamoja, nyekundu na bluu kufanya nebula kuangalia kama ni juu ya moto <unk> Flaming Star Nebula. Maandishi ya Damond Benningfield