NGC 1499 is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus, within the Orion arm of the Milky Way. It's common name, the California nebula, refers to its shape as seen on long exposure imagery.

The California nebula is large, subtending approximately 2 degrees of arc, or 4 times the width of the full moon. It's actual length is approximately 100 light years, and it lies at a distance of 1,000 light years from Earth.

The hydrogen gas within the nebula is energized by the light from the star Xi Persei, a hot, bluish star visible just the right of the nebula, containing approximately 30 solar masses . Although it has an apparent magnitude of only 4.06, it is a blue giant star (spectral class O7.5III) and at a distance of 1200 light years from Earth, it is 12,700 times brighter than our Sun at visual wavelengths. However, if it's ultraviolet emission is accounted for, the energy output of Xi Persei is 263,000 times that of the Sun, and it is this excess ultraviolet radiation that ionizes the hydrogen gas of the nebula which results in the reddish H-alpha emission. Xi Perseii belongs to the Perseus OB2 association of co-moving stars. It's common name in Menkib.

The California nebula was discovered in 1884 by E.E. Barnard, an American astronomer known mostly for his catalog of dark nebulae. It is fitting that several Barnard dark nebulae are visible in this wide field image. The large dark area to the upper right of the image in Barnard 4, located just to the right of Atik & IC 348, and extending vertically upward. Several smaller dark nebulae lie around it's perimeter, and these are designated B2, B3, and B5 in Barnard's catalog.

A line of bluish stars extends from Menkib to the upper right, the fourth and brightest of which is Atik, or omicron Persei. The fuzzy nebula just below and to the right of Atik is IC 348, a star-forming region located approximately 1030 light years from Earth. The nebula contains a cluster of approximately 400 young stars, "only" about 2 million years old, and infra-red data from the Spitzer space telescope suggests that approximately half of these stars have primordial circumstellar disks which are regions of planetary formation. Dark nebula Barnard 5 is visible to the lower left of Atik, and Barnard 4 is the dark area immediately to the right of Atik.



This image was taken with a Canon 450D camera and it's kit lens, and is the basis of a multi -pane mosaic of the nebula which I will post when completed.