NGC 1499, the California Nebula |
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 NGC 1499 - Click on thumbnails below to view larger image. Opens in a new window. |
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| In the heroic northern constellation of Perseus
lies a large cloud of gas and dust looking very much like a map
of California, giving this nebula its popular nickname. NGC 1499
is an emission nebula, a large cloud of gas and dust 100
light-years long and about 1,500 light-years away, covering a 1
x 4 degree section of sky. Unlike other emission nebulae
depicted in this site, NGC1499 is not glowing from the ionizing
radiation of hot stars embedded within itself. It is thought
that Xi Persei, the bright star to the lower right of the nebula
in the picture, is the source of the radiation that is causing
this cloud to glow. And Xi Persei, a giant star with a mass of
about 14 times the Sun, is apparently just “passing through the
neighborhood”: it is moving at a different speed and direction
as NGC 1499, meaning that these two objects are not related at
all. Which means that it was not born from within the nebula! The California Nebula is almost visible with the naked eye under a very dark sky. It is very dim and diffused, meaning that telescopic views of it are not easy, and it lends itself better to astrophotography. As popular as this target is to imagers, I never got around to imaging the California Nebula outside of an H-alpha/SII image from our backyard back in 2006. It had always been one of my “I’ll get around to it” targets for a long time. Well, I finally got “A Round Tuit” back in November thru December, 2025. The Hubble Palette image (left thumbnail) incorporates 60 hours of narrowband data with 3 hours of RGB data for the stars. My original plan was to incorporate the H-alpha data with the RGB data for an HaRGB composite in addition to the narrowband presentation, but the RGB data came out looking so good I decided it deserved its own separate image. |
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| Constellation: Perseus | ||
| When Visible: December - April | ||
| Distance: 1,500 light-years | ||
| Date: November - December, 2025 | ||
| Location: Starfront Observatories, Rockwood, Texas | ||
| Exposure Details:
H-alpha: 129 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1 S-II: 113 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1 OII: 118 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1 R: 20 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1 G: 20 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1 B: 20 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1 |
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| Equipment Used: Takahashi FSQ-106N on a ZWO AM5N mount. ZWO ASI-2600MM Pro camera with 7 x 50mm filter wheel and Antlia Pro filters. Externally guided with a ZWO ASI224MC camera on a William Optics UniGuide 50 guide scope. | ||
| Acquisition Software : Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy, PHD2 | ||
| Processing Software: MaximDL, PixInsight, Photoshop CS5, IrFanView | ||
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Prior Versions: 2006 Version. Takahashi FSQ-106N on a Takahashi EM200 Temma-2 mount. SBIG STL-6303 camera with 5-position filter wheel and Astrodon narrowband filters. Externally guided with an SBIG Remote Guide Head on a Borg 76ED refractor. Acquired October 2006. 3 hours H-alpha, 3 hours SII Binned 1x1. H-Alpha and S-II data combined in various ratios for R/G/B to come up with the image colors rendered. |
