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Credit & Copyright: Farmakopoulos Antonis
Explanation:
What's California doing in space?
Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy,
this
cosmic cloud
by chance echoes the outline of
California
on the west coast of the
United States.
Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way's
Orion
Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from the
California Nebula.
Also known as NGC 1499,
the classic emission nebula is around 100
light-years long.
On the featured image,
the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light characteristic
of
hydrogen
atoms recombining with long
lost electrons, stripped away (ionized)
by energetic starlight.
The star most likely providing the energetic starlight that
ionizes
much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish
Xi Persei
just to the right of the nebula.
A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula
can be spotted
with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky
toward the constellation of
Perseus,
not far from the Pleiades.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: California Nebula - emission nebula
Publications with words: California Nebula - emission nebula
See also: