﻿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2023 December 19 [2]A red gaseous nebula is shown in front of a dark starfield. The shape of the nebula resembles the US state of California. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. NGC 1499: The California Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Steven Powell Explanation: Could [4]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 [5]California, USA. Our [6]Sun has its home within the Milky Way's [7]Orion Arm, only about 1,000 light-years from the [8]California Nebula. Also known as [9]NGC 1499, the classic emission nebula is around 100 [10]light-years long. On the [11]featured image, the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light characteristic of [12]hydrogen atoms recombining with [13]long lost electrons, stripped away ([14]ionized) by energetic starlight. The star most likely providing the [15]energetic starlight that [16]ionizes much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish [17]Xi Persei just to the right of the nebula. A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula [18]can be spotted with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the constellation of [19]Perseus, not far from the [20]Pleiades. Explore Your Universe: [21]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: ice fog sky __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC, [42]NASA Science Activation & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2312/CalNeb_Powell_3923.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/nexgen_astro/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calafia 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140506.html 7. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Nebula 9. https://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n1499.html 10. https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html 11. https://www.instagram.com/p/C0xJ8JdpPrb/ 12. https://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/lament.html 14. https://energyeducation.ca/wiki/images/3/3d/IONIZATION.png 15. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves 16. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ion-balloons/en/ 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090411.html 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_(constellation) 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220405.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231218.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.com/feed.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231219 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231220.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 43. http://www.mtu.edu/