APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5612
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am

APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by APOD Robot » Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:11 am

Image NGC 1499: The California Nebula

Explanation: There's even a California 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.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

BillBixby
Science Officer
Posts: 147
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:57 pm

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by BillBixby » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:11 am

Blues, red and GOLD!

heehaw

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by heehaw » Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:08 pm

Perfect name! It shows you how it is that Reno, Nevada, is WEST of Los Angeles, California!

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by MarkBour » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:52 pm

Whoa, Menkib is one hot star. It is ionizing a region all along a 100-light-year-long cloud?
I see from Wikipedia that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei
If the ultraviolet light that emanates from Menkib is included, its total bolometric luminosity is 263,000 times that of the Sun.
If it had any planets, the radiation experienced on them would be quite hard to imagine.
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by neufer » Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:33 pm

MarkBour wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:52 pm
Whoa, Menkib is one hot star. It is ionizing a region all along a 100-light-year-long cloud?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei wrote:
If the ultraviolet light that emanates from Menkib is included, its total bolometric luminosity is 263,000 times that of the Sun.
If it had any planets, the radiation experienced on them would be quite hard to imagine.
With an estimated age of just ~7 Myr no evolved animals were harmed in the making of Menkib.
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by neufer » Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:54 pm


  • I, personally, live more in & about the Pleiades region:

Art Neuendorffer

NCTom

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by NCTom » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:16 pm

Neufer, on a day I needed a smile, a big thanks!

User avatar
Fred the Cat
Theoretic Apothekitty
Posts: 975
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:09 pm
AKA: Ron
Location: Eagle, Idaho

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by Fred the Cat » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:55 pm

Crazy what changing one law can do for a state. A “glowing” orange is the new blue it seems - depending on the wave you’re catching.

Will it be a thrill or a wipeout? :|
Freddy's Felicity "Only ascertain as a cat box survivor"

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13884
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by Ann » Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:19 pm

MarkBour wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:52 pm Whoa, Menkib is one hot star. It is ionizing a region all along a 100-light-year-long cloud?
I see from Wikipedia that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei
If the ultraviolet light that emanates from Menkib is included, its total bolometric luminosity is 263,000 times that of the Sun.
If it had any planets, the radiation experienced on them would be quite hard to imagine.
Jim Kaler wrote about Menkib:

To receive the same amount of energy as we do, an orbiting planet would have to be 15 times Pluto's from the Sun away.

Thanks for your post comparing the Menkib-Pleiades region with the United States, Art. Even I though it was funny (including the orange color of California in the map of the United States).

A nice thing about Rogelio Bernal Andreo's picture of the Perseus-Taurus region is that it makes it easy to see that Menkib is a runaway star. It was born in the star forming region which can be seen as a bluish-pinkish-brownish splotch at upper center left in the picture, almost midway between the California Nedbula and the Pleiades.

Menkib even seems to be leaving a trail of stars behind it as it speeds through space, piling up gas before it like a snowplow and making it glow red.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by MarkBour » Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:20 pm

Capture.JPG
So, we could have the occasional reminder that we are really only able to see the California Nebula as it was 1500 years ago ...
So Orange in the APOD and Red in @neufer's post from Rogelio Andreo's image.

But politics can change rapidly. Lately, a lot of folks draw California as Blue:

(Source: AP News and the BBC)
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: NGC 1499: The California Nebula (2018 Nov 06)

Post by neufer » Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:57 pm

MarkBour wrote: Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:20 pm
So, we could have the occasional reminder that we are really only able to see the California Nebula as it was 1500 years ago ...
So Orange in the APOD and Red in @neufer's post from Rogelio Andreo's image.

But politics can change rapidly. Lately, a lot of folks draw California as Blue:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Russert#Red_states_and_blue_states wrote:
<<The phrases red states and blue states were coined by Tim Russert, although in that same article Russert states that he wasn't the first to use the terminology.This term refers to those states of the United States of America whose residents predominantly vote for the Republican Party (red) or Democratic Party (blue) presidential candidates, respectively. John Chancellor, Russert's NBC colleague, is credited with using red and blue to represent the states on a US map for the 1976 presidential election, but at that time Republican states were blue, and Democratic states were red. (How the colors got reversed is not entirely clear.) During the 1984 presidential election, between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, ABC News used a map which showed Republican states as red and Democratic states as blue. According to David Brinkley, that was because Red = R = Reagan. Mainstream political discussion following the 2000 presidential election used red state/blue state more frequently.>>
Art Neuendorffer