California Nebula
The California Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the U.S. State of California in long exposure photographs.
By coincidence, the California Nebula transits in the zenith in central California as the latitude matches the declination of the object.
Observation
NGC 1499 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 Hα filter or Hβ filter in a rich-field telescope under dark skies. It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, Xi Persei.File:Emission nebulae behind molecular clouds in Perseus and Taurus.jpg|thumb|none|upright=2.5|The region surrounding the California Nebula, as seen by the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey. The California Nebula appears to be the brightest part of a much larger structure that is partially obscured by molecular clouds in Taurus and Perseus.