by APOD Robot » Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:15 am
The California Nebula
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 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.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160112.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_160112.jpg[/img] [size=150]The California Nebula[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] What's California doing in space? Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, [url=http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/ngc1499.html]this cosmic cloud[/url] by chance echoes the outline of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California]California[/url] on the west coast of the [url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html]United States[/url]. Our own [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140506.html]Sun[/url] also lies within the Milky Way's [url=http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.html]Orion Arm[/url], only about 1,500 light-years from the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Nebula]California Nebula[/url]. Also known as [url=http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n1499.html]NGC 1499[/url], the classic emission nebula is around 100 [url=http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html]light-year[/url]s long. On the [url=http://astrofarma.gr/en/California]featured image[/url], the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light characteristic of [url=http://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml]hydrogen[/url] atoms recombining with [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/lament.html]long lost[/url] electrons, stripped away ([url=http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/ionization.html]ionized[/url]) by energetic starlight. The star most likely providing the energetic starlight that [url=http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ion-balloons/en/]ionizes[/url] much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei]Xi Persei[/url] just to the right of the nebula. A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090411.html]can be spotted[/url] with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the constellation of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_%28constellation%29]Perseus[/url], not far from the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091103.html]Pleiades[/url].
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