The California Nebula... NGC 1499
(Click on Picture for larger view)

Added December 3, 2019 ...
California Nebula (NGC 1499) I was putting to use the new tracking and capture program called N.I.N.A. (Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy) and had the system program to find the California Nebula, lock onto it and then begin photographing it ... and it did! This is a 1 hour 40 minute exposure.

The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California. Because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually, but on long exposure photographs, the red glowing gas can be seen. It is located between the Pleiades star cluster and the Orion Nebula.

Of additional interest is the blue giant star 'Menkib' (Upper Left) which is the main source for the radiation causing the emission of the nebula. It is about 1,700 light-years from earth. This star is about 30 times larger than the sun and 12,700 times brighter and over 5 times hotter. The star is extremely young being only about 7 million years old, as compared to the age of the sun being 4.3 billion years old.

The Techy Stuff ... For those who want to know ...
Telescope: Orion ED80T telescope (3.1 inches)
Mount: Celestron AVX
Mount Control: CPWI Capture software: N.I.N.A.
Camera: Altair Hypercam 294c ProTEC
Settings: gain 900 ... offset 50 ... Temp: -10°C
Filter: Altair QuadBand
Sub frames: 50 at 2min ea
Calibration frames: Dark, Bias, and Flat ... 30ea
Stacked in DSS
Post Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop CC
Seeing conditions: 10 (Scale of 1-10)
Location: My Backyard Heavenly Garden

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