The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a Hβ filter (isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.^[1] It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, xi Persei (also known as Menkib, seen at center below it in the inset at right).

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ 106 ED

Imaging cameras: ATIK 460 EX Mono
Mounts: Takahashi EM 200 Temma 2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FS 60 CB
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY5-II
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Main Sequence Software Sequence Generator Pro, PHD 2
Accessories: Atik EFW2, Technical Innovations RoboFocus
Resolution: 2670×2120
Dates: Oct. 30, 2014, Oct. 31, 2014
Locations: La Azohia
Frames: Astronomik Ha 12nm 2″: 16×600″ bin 1×1
Integration: 2.7 hours
Avg. Moon age: 6.72 days
Avg. Moon phase: 43.03%

Аuthor: Kinch

Аstrophotography of the day of  SPONLI, 30.11.2014