NGC 1499 California Nebula
NGC 1499 California Nebula
Object: NGC 1499 California Nebula
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106N on EM-200; SBIG STL-11000M, Astrodon filters; Vixen 70X600 guidescope
Exposure/Processing: RGB - 3 x 300s; Hydrogen alpha as Luminance - 3 x 900s; Images acquistion/processing in MaximDL ad Photoshop.
Location/Date: 10 October 2010; Chiefland Astronomy Village

Comment: These exposures were taken early on the morning of 10 October through moderate ground fog at Chiefland Astronomy Village.

NGC 1499 is an emission nebula in Perseus. It is located 1,500 light years distant in the Orion arm of the Milky Way where the Sun is also located. It is 100 light-years long. It glows with the red light characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons, stripped away (ionized) by energetic starlight. In this case, the star most likely providing the energetic starlight is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei, just below the nebula (description abstracted from NASA APOD website).