The California Nebula (NGC 1499, LBN 756) in Ha

[TakMan]

Hi again

Probably my best shot to date with the new set-up...

Taken on Friday 23rd Nov (before my Christmas Tree/Cone visual), before the mist rolled in!

Quite pleased with the results despite the changing conditions and imaging under a bright moon. Some slight haloing from that bright star - still 'playing' with that 'reduction technique' adopted for the Jellyfish Nebula shot....

23x 600sec subs - not quite four hours worth due to dropping one exposure due to erroneous guiding ;-( don't you just hate it when that happens!

Takahashi FSQ106-ED + dedicated F/R @f/3.6

SBIG STF8300M + Baader 7nm Ha filter. Guided with SBIG ST-i via ST-80 via MicroProjects Equinox Image (beta test)

'Scopebuggied' Takahashi EM400 mount - controlled via MicroProjects Equinox Pro (all on a 17" MacBook Pro)

Preprocessed (Darks and Flat frames), aligned and stacked in Nebulosity 3.

Processed in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with 'Noel's Actions'

Discovered by Edward Barnard in 1885, the California nebula is a large (extending across 100 light years of space), and relatively close emission nebula in the Orion Arm of our Galaxy, located in the constellation Perseus.

The nebula glows because of the radiation from the intensely hot, class O star, Xi Persei which is the brightest star in this picture.

It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a H-Beta filter (isolates the H-Beta line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.

The distance to the California nebula is not known very precisely, although it definitely lies within the Orion Arm and most estimates place the nebula about 1500 light years away. The most accurate distance to Xi Persei from the Hipparcos Catalogue puts the star roughly 1800 light years away, although it could easily be 500 light years nearer or further. (Wiki)

Think it's worth a look at the hi res link here: http://astrob.in/full/26018/

Thanks for looking.... clear skies!

Damian

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice indeed. Beautiful detail.

[sologuitarist61]

Very nice - I like that

[Gina]

Superb

[TakMan]

Thanks for the feedback

Attached, another iteration - using the 'Ha False Colour' routine from Noel's Actions...

Not really my thing... although I do like the portrait format!

Damian

[hunterknox]

Very, very good indeed. You must be justifiably proud.

[Velvet]

really nice image

Velvet