Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  46 Per)  ·  46 ksi Per  ·  49 Per  ·  California Nebula  ·  HD24300  ·  HD24321  ·  HD24640  ·  HD24664  ·  HD24747  ·  HD24809  ·  HD25152  ·  HD25308  ·  HD25329  ·  HD25454  ·  HD25538  ·  HD26103  ·  HD275899  ·  HD275900  ·  HD275909  ·  HD275954  ·  HD275956  ·  HD275957  ·  HD275958  ·  HD275959  ·  HD275963  ·  HD275964  ·  HD276008  ·  HD279070  ·  HD279071  ·  HD279074  ·  And 224 more.
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NGC 1499 California Nebula Monochrome, Jared Willson
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NGC 1499 California Nebula Monochrome

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 1499 California Nebula Monochrome, Jared Willson
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 1499 California Nebula Monochrome

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Description

The California Nebula

NGC 1499 was discovered in 1884 by astronomer E. E. Barnard. Barnard was an accomplished observational astronomer who is credited with the discovery of five comets, evidence for the “spokes” of Saturn (later confirmed by Voyager I), the first non-Galilean moon of Jupiter found, Amalthea, and the high proper motion of “Barnard’s Star.” He is probably best known today for his list of dark nebulae which are favorite targets for astrophotographers.

The California Nebula lies at a distance of roughly one thousand light years and covers almost two and a half degrees of sky—five times the diameter of the full moon. Despite this, it is not a commonly observed object by visual astronomers because of its relatively low surface brightness. To see it requires a rich field telescope with a hydrogen beta filter. The nebula fluoresces under ultraviolet light from the star Xi Persei which can be seen as the bright star above and to the right of center in this image. Xi Persei is an O class giant star that is roughly 12,700 times brighter than our Sun. Despite this intrinsic brightness, it is relatively dim in our skies at magnitude 4.6 just because of its distance of roughly 1,200 light years.

This image is a 4 x 2 panel mosaic consisting of two hours of data for each panel.

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NGC 1499 California Nebula Monochrome, Jared Willson