* Astronomy

NGC 1499 (also California Nebula, Sharpless 2-220 and LBN 756) is a magnitude +6.0 emission nebula located about 1000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus.

The nebula was discovered by American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard using a 15.24 cm (6 inch) refracting telescope at the Vanderbilt Observatory, Nashville, on the 3rd November 1885.

Position (J2000): R.A. 04h 03m 18.0s  |  Dec. +36° 25' 18"

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.
Read more