Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 November 6
                                      [2]
                       NGC 1499: The California Nebula
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Bray Falls [3]

Explanation: There's even a California in space. Drifting through the Orion
Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud [4] by chance echoes the
outline of California [5] on the west coast of the United States [6] . Our own
Sun [7]  also lies within the Milky Way's Orion Arm [8] , only about 1,500
light-years from the California Nebula [9] . Also known as NGC 1499 [10] , the
classic emission nebula is around 100 light-year [11] s long. On the featured
image, the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light
characteristic of hydrogen [12] atoms recombining with long lost [13]
electrons, stripped away ( ionized [14] ) by energetic starlight. The star
most likely providing the energetic starlight [15]  that ionizes [16] much of
the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei [17] just to the right of
the nebula. A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula can
be spotted [18] with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the
constellation of Perseus [19] , not far from the Pleiades [20] .

                     Tomorrow's picture: dragons in space

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [32] (MTU [33] ) & Jerry Bonnell [34]
                                  (UMCP [35] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [36] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [37]
              A service of: ASD [38]  at NASA [39]  / GSFC [40]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [41]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1811/CaliforniaNebula_Falls_3352.jpg
  [3] mailto: blfalls  asu .dot. edu
  [4] http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/ngc...
  [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
  [6] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-...
  [7] ap140506.html
  [8] http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.htm...
  [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Nebul...
  [10] http://spider.seds.org/spider/Misc/n1499.html
  [11] http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild...
  [12] http://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml
  [13] lib/lament.html
  [14] https://energyeducation.ca/wiki/images/3/3d/I...
  [15] https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwa...
  [16] http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ion-balloons/en/
  [17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Persei
  [18] ap090411.html
  [19] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_%28const...
  [20] ap131122.html
  [21] ap181105.html
  [22] archivepix.html
  [23] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [24] lib/aptree.html
  [25] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [26] calendar/allyears.html
  [27] /apod.rss
  [28] lib/edlinks.html
  [29] lib/about_apod.html
  [30] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [31] ap181107.html
  [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [33] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [34] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [35] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [36] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [37] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [38] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [40] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [41] http://www.mtu.edu/

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