Credit & Copyright: Steven Powell
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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California Nebula - emissionnaya tumannost'
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