California Nebula Pictures: NGC 1499 Astrophotography Images - Large
Copyright © 2006-2012, by Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.
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This page presents several views of the California Nebula, NGC1499, which is in Perseus between it and Auriga and Taurus.  The name comes from the fact that it vaguely resembles the shape of the state of California.


California Nebula Narrowband: Hubble Palette

Sporting over 8 hours total exposure, the California Nebula picture above uses the popular "Hubble Palette" of colors (Red = SII, G = Ha, B = O3).  Equipment: SBIG ST-8300 CCD camera with the FW8-8300 filter wheel, Astrodon narrowband 36mm filters, the Takahashi FSQ-85 telescope with reducer,  AP 900GTO mount.  I used MaximDL to acquire and process flat and dark frames, Registar to align, Photoshop CS5 with a little HDR toning to process from there.  Other narrowband pictures with this combination, and more info, are at this link.  Other astronomy pictures from the Fall 2011 trip are here.

The narrowband pictures are composed of 27*5 unbinned Ha Frames, 37*5 minute O3 frames (2x bin), and 39*4 (2xbin) Si2 frames.


California Nebula: 17 Hour Narrowband and Color Blend

The California Nebula image above consists of the Narrowband data (over 8 hours total exposure as covered elsewhere on this page), plus the color data from the QHY8 "one shot color" CCD camera with the Takahashi TOA 130 Telescope (a 5" APO refractor) with reducer, color exposures (109 * 5 minute or about 9 hours total exposure).  AP 900GTO mount.  I blended the color data into the Hubble Palette version using "soft light" for this interesting version.

 


California Nebula - Blue Narrowband Image

I like this palette and the blue dominance as it presents an interesting and different take on the popular photographic object.  With just over 5.5 hours total exposure, the image uses Si2 as Red and Ha as Green and Blue (i.e., it does not use the O3 I captured - there's not much of that in this object). 

Equipment: SBIG ST-8300 CCD camera with the FW8-8300 filter wheel, Astrodon narrowband 36mm filters, the Takahashi FSQ-85 telescope with reducer,  AP 900GTO mount.  I used MaximDL to acquire and process flat and dark frames, Registar to align, Photoshop CS5 with a little HDR toning to process from there.  Other narrowband pictures with this combination, and more info, are at this link.  Other astronomy pictures from the Fall 2011 trip are here.


California Nebula -  17 Hour Natural Color and Narrowband Blend

This version was processed using the color image from the QHY8 camera as the primary source, with the narrow band images blended in to help reduce noise, star size, and to help enhance some of the structure.


See the H-alpha source on my ST-8300 Narrowband Page

 
Blue California Nebula: Earlier Image Archived for Reference


Archived: California Nebula: Golden Narrowband Rough Cut


Archived: Older 2 hour color image of California Nebula (NGC 1499)

This is the California Nebula, NGC1499.  It's in Perseus, between it an Auriga and Taurus.  The name comes from the fact that it vaguely resembles the shape of the state of California, with the North being to the right. 

This is a mosaic of  30 x 4min = 2 hours total imaging time.  It's been a challenge to process due to some light gradients; I shot the last couple sections of it as it was getting too low in the sky.  It has some gradient challenges.  I think it's better than the old film image, though, below.    Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor) and Canon EOS D20a.   My current image processing workflow is here.   My QHY8 Picture page has an image of the Nebula as well.

The California Nebula is visible in my wide angle shots of this area


Other Pictures from 2006 HAS site.

Old Film Image (not bad): California Nebula

It is a fun (challenging) object to find and shoot because you can't see it in the scope (it's really a photographic-only object).   As you can see, I was able to get it framed and exposed properly.  Film Image:  Photo by Dick Locke Wimberly, TX, at the Starry Nights Bed and Breakfast January 3, 2003 45 minute guided exposure Tak FS-102 prime focus with reducer at 610mm focal length, f5.9 SBIG STV autoguider using Celestron ST-80 guidescope Losmandy GM-11 mount Kodak LE 400 film, OM1n camera Negative Scan, Nikon Coolscan IV ED, Processed in Photoshop

Starry Nights 2003

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