Astrophoto Friday - the California Nebula

This week Astrophoto Friday brings us the California Nebula.


The California Nebula (also known as NGC 1499) is an emission nebula consisting largely of ionized hydrogen gas. It was named for its resemblance to the state of California - home to the Palomar Observatory. The nebula is located approximately 1,000 light years from our solar system in the direction of the constellation of Perseus.

The bright blue star Xi Persei (to the right of the nebula) most likely is the source of illumination for the nebula.

This image is a composite from two black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue. The plates were scanned and color combined to produce the image seen here.

Astrophoto Friday - Witch's Broom Nebula

It is Astrophoto Friday again and almost Halloween, so today we give you the Witch's Broom Nebula.


The Witch's Broom Nebula (a part of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant) is about 1,400 light years distant in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus the Swan.

This image was produced from several photos taken with Palomar's 48-inch Samuel Ochin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. The image was processed by Davide De Martin. You can check out many more great images that he has produced at his SkyFactory website.

Astrophoto Friday: Bonus Palomar in Science Fiction Edition!

Here are a couple of classic Palomar images from the early days of color astrophotography.

The Andromeda Galaxy (aka M31) as photographed with the 48-inch Schmidt telescope (now called the Samuel Oschin Telescope).


The Ring Nebula (aka M57), a planetary nebula in the constellation of Lyra as photographed by the 200-inch Hale Telescope.

Both of these images were part of a 1959 article in LIFE magazine, The Hues of Heaven, that showed off the first ever color astrophotos. These and other images from Palomar, were inspirational to people like me. They also worked their way into popular culture. My favorite example is that they were used as set dressing for the bridge of the Starship Enterprise in the first season of the original series of Star Trek. The shot below shows M31, M57, Lt. Uhura and Mr. Spock from the episode, The Naked Time (By the way, it is a pretty good episode and you can watch it here.).

In their day these photos were revolutionary and looked futuristic enough to have them displayed on the bridge of the Enterprise. Times have changed. We have moved on to doing things like imaging exoplanets. The big, familiar objects like the ones shown above can now be easily by amateur astronomers with off of the shelf equipment.

In another 44 years what kinds of images will professional and amateur astronomers be able to take?

Astrophoto Friday - the Crab Nebula

The supernova explosion that produced what is today known as the Crab Nebula was first observed July 4, 1054 A.D. A bright supernova explosion seems like a great way to celebrate Independence Day, even if it was a number of years too early. (I would settle for one now!)


Here is a picture of the Crab that was taken by Walter Baade with the 200-inch Hale Telescope on the night of October 11 1950. It was a 45 minute exposure with a red sensitive film. For a more modern picture and further information be sure to check out my blog post on the Crab Nebula from last year.

Astrophoto Friday - A Bubble in Aquila

This week's astrophoto is another vintage shot (copyright 1965). It shows a planetary nebula in the constellation of Aquila (the Eagle) known as NGC 6781.

The bubble of gas was given off by the star at the center of the nebula. This photograph was taken with Palomar's 48-inch Schmidt telescope which is now known as the Samuel Oschin Telescope.