AE Aurigae (abbreviated as AE Aur) is a runaway star in the constellation Auriga; it lights the Flaming Star Nebula.
AE Aurigae is a blue O-type main sequence star with a mean apparent magnitude of +6.0, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under very good observing conditions. It was discovered to be a variable star by Daniel Walter Morehouse, in 1923, and received its variable star designation in 1924. It is classified as an Orion type variable star and its brightness varies irregularly between magnitudes +5.78 and +6.08. It is approximately 1,300 light-years from Earth.
AE Aur is a runaway star that might have been ejected during a collision of two binary star groups. This collision, which also is credited with ejecting Mu Columbae and possibly 53 Arietis, has been traced to the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebula two million years ago. The binary Iota Orionis may have been the other half of this collision.[1]
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.[2] [3]