|
Credit & Copyright: Markus Noller
(Deep Sky Images)
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 many images, 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.
In the
above image, however, hydrogen is colored green, while silicon is
mapped to red and
oxygen mapped to blue.
The star most likely providing the energetic
starlight that ionizes much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish
Xi Persei,
just outside the right image edge.
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.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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 - Deep Sky
Publications with words: California Nebula - emission nebula - Deep Sky
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 24 Á Dragons Egg Bipolar Emission Nebula
- APOD: 2024 March 13 Á The Seagull Nebula
- APOD: 2024 February 21 Á Seagull Nebula over Pinnacles Peak
- NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410
- The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
- APOD: 2023 December 19 Á NGC 1499: The California Nebula
- APOD: 2023 December 13 Á Deep Field: The Heart Nebula