Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 March 10

                       NGC 1499: The California Nebula
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Yannick Akar

   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.

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