California Nebula

E491030

The California Nebula is a large, faint emission nebula in the constellation Perseus, named for its resemblance in shape to the U.S. state of California and known as a popular target for astrophotography.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
California Nebula canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf H II region
deep-sky object
emission nebula
alsoKnownAs NGC 1499
Sharpless 2-220
angularSize about 2.5 degrees
apparentMagnitudeV 5.0
belongsTo Local Spiral Arm
bestObservedIn autumn
winter
bestSeenFrom Northern Hemisphere
catalog New General Catalogue
Sharpless catalog
linked to: Sharpless catalogue
catalogNumber NGC 1499
Sh2-220
linked to: Sharpless 2-220
constellation Perseus
contains interstellar dust
ionized hydrogen gas
coordinateSystem equatorial coordinates
declination +36° 25′
discoveredBy Edward Emerson Barnard
discoveryYear 1884
distanceFromEarth about 1,000 light-years
about 320 parsecs
dominantEmissionLine H-alpha
ionized hydrogen
emissionMechanism recombination of ionized hydrogen
galacticArm Orion Arm
hasColor reddish
ionizingStar Xi Persei
ionizingStarType O-type star
locatedIn Milky Way
namedAfter U.S. state of California
nearbyConstellation Auriga
observability faint to the naked eye
requires dark skies
requires long-exposure imaging
observedWith hydrogen-alpha filters
telephoto lenses
wide-field telescopes
partOf Perseus molecular cloud complex
popularFor astrophotography
rightAscension 04h 03m
shapeResembles outline of California
skyLocation near star Xi Persei
spectralType emission nebula spectrum
typeOfNebula diffuse nebula
visibleIn narrowband H-alpha imaging
optical wavelengths

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

NGC 1499 alsoKnownAs California Nebula
subject linked to: NGC 1499 (California Nebula)
Perseus constellation contains California Nebula
NGC 1499 alsoKnownAs California Nebula