Object Information                                            Imaging Details

NGC 1499, the California Nebula, is a large diffuse nebula in the constellation Perseus. The nebula's shape bears a striking resemblence to the Golden State. I had seen a deep image showing the region between NGC 1499 and the Pleiades (M45), and thought that a smaller portion of the region (showing NGC 1499 and IC 1985) would make a nice pairing.

The nebula is visible through a telescope. Large apertures will show much of the brighter nebulosity, but the extended portions (extending to the right in the above image) are all but invisible by eye.

Images were collected on October 15, 16 and 17. The sky was fair but a bit smokey from dozens of fires burning in the west at the time. The smoke cleared somwhat on the 16th (Ha image collection). The smoke was back the next evening and compromised the O3 data. The blue channel data from the first night was also compromised by the smoke. I had to really push the blue data to achieve the desired look.

Clicking the above image will bring up a rotated and much larger jpg of the region.

Telescope:

Canon 100mm f/2 lens