APOD: 2025 March 10 – NGC 1499: The California Nebula

Good evening, Rallypoint, and welcome to this edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for March 10, 2025.

We saw The California Nebula (NGC 1499) last week with the Pleiades; now we see it up close. Discovered by American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard in 1884, it lies about 1,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. Without a hydrogen-alpha (Hα) filter that isolates the Hα line at 656 nm, or a hydrogen-bravo (Hβ) filter that isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm, NGC 1499 is difficult to observe. Courtesy of today's APOD photographer, we do not have that problem.

Welcome to the Hotel California.