Astronomy Picture Of The Day: NGC 1499: The California Nebula

 

#Pleiades, #Perseus, #NASA, #Space, #astronomy, #διάστημα

Explanation: Could #Queen_Calafia's mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of #California, USA. Our #Sun has its home within the Milky Way's #Orion_Arm, only about 1,000 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.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250310.html