APOD: From California to the Pleiades (2013 Nov 22)

[APOD Robot]

From California to the Pleiades

Explanation: An astronomical trip from the California Nebula to the Pleiades star cluster would cover just 12 degrees across planet Earth's night sky. That's equivalent to the angular extent of 25 Full Moons, as your telescope sweeps over the borders of the constellations Perseus and Taurus. This wide and deep mosaic image of the region explores the cosmic landscape's dusty nebulae and colors otherwise too faint for your eye to see. On the left, cataloged as NGC 1499, the California Nebula does have a familiar shape, though its coastline is actually over 60 light-years long and lies about 1,500 light-years away. The nebula's pronounced reddish glow is from hydrogen atoms ionized by luminous blue star Xi Persei seen just to its right. At the far right, the famous Pleiades star cluster is some 400 light-years distant and around 15 light-years across. Its spectacular blue color is due to the reflection of starlight by interstellar dust. In between are hot stars of the Perseus OB2 association and dusty, dark nebulae along the edge of the nearby, massive Perseus molecular cloud.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[Beyond]

From California to the Pleiades. Idaho what's between them, but it looks good also.

[Ann]

Oh, this is such a lovely picture! So colorful!

And the picture is so detailed and just fantastically widefield, like an incredible map over a huge stretch of sky.

What a great image! Welcome back, Rogelio Bernal Andreo!

Ann

[orin stepanek]

Beautiful picture; a keeper! +

[neufer]

---

[phoenix900]

Is it a big deal that it emits nuclei?

[cxd207]

RHCP reference - very nice!

[Ann]

---

Where's the Pleiades?

Ann

[Psnarf]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PerseusCloudMap.png [switching between the full-size APOD and this map...my head exploded again]
That's a big cloud!

[Boomer12k]

Wow, nice image...

Between, as described in the caption...is the Perseus OB2 molecular cloud complex...

I could not find much on this region on the web...maybe did not look far enough....however....

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/vie ... &number=42

Shows a different view...California Nebula is at the top...what a star field!!

:---[===] *

[Cousin Ricky]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PerseusCloudMap.png [switching between the full-size APOD and this map...my head exploded again]
That's a big cloud!

The map at Wikipedia/Perseus and the map at the Hawaii an Astronomical Society/TheSky disagree on which star is Atik and which star is Menkib (though the Bayer labels agree). I consider Sky & Telescope and the IAU to be reliable authorities, so the TheSky wins this round.

[Cousin Ricky]

---

Where's the Pleiades?

Cherry Hill, New Jersey. (So that would place IC 348 in western South Dakota.)

[Ann]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PerseusCloudMap.png [switching between the full-size APOD and this map...my head exploded again]
That's a big cloud!

The map at Wikipedia/Perseus and the map at the Hawaii an Astronomical Society/TheSky disagree on which star is Atik and which star is Menkib (though the Bayer labels agree). I consider Sky & Telescope and the IAU to be reliable authorities, so the TheSky wins this round.

My software says that Atik is Omicron Persei, the upper of the two prominent stars between the California Nebula and the Pleiades in today's APOD.

Anyway, Atik is surrounded by splendidly many-colored nebulosities. That's so beautiful!

Ann

[neufer]

The map at Wikipedia/Perseus and the map at the Hawaii an Astronomical Society/TheSky disagree on which star is Atik and which star is Menkib (though the Bayer labels agree). I consider Sky & Telescope and the IAU to be reliable authorities, so the TheSky wins this round.

My software says that Atik is Omicron Persei, the upper of the two prominent stars between the California Nebula and the Pleiades in today's APOD. Anyway, Atik is surrounded by splendidly many-colored nebulosities. That's so beautiful!

<<Omicron Persei (ο Per) is a star in the constellation Perseus. It has the traditional name Atik (also Ati, Al Atik, Arabic for "the shoulder"). Atik is a spectroscopic binary star consisting of a spectral type B1 giant and a type B3 dwarf orbiting each other every 4.5 days. Some sources, including Starry Night (planetarium software), an atlas, and a web site attribute the name Atik to the nearby, brighter star Zeta Persei. Omicron Persei is perhaps best known from the animated television series Futurama, where it is the solar system of the Omicronians- a race of giant horned toad creatures. Its eighth planet is ruled by the despotic leader, Lrrr, who loudly and frequently announces the name of his home system.>>

<<Xi Persei (ξ Per) is a star in the constellation Perseus. It has the traditional name Menkib (from Mankib al Thurayya: Arabic for "shoulder" [of the Pleiades]). Menkib has an apparent magnitude of +4.06 and is classified as a blue giant (spectral class O7.5III). It is approximately 1800 light years from Earth. It is visually 12,700 times brighter than the Sun with absolute magnitude -5.5. If we include the ultraviolet light that emanates from Menkib its total, bolometric, luminosity is 263,000 times that of the Sun. The star has a mass of some 30 solar masses and a surface temperature of 35,000 kelvins, making it one of the hottest stars that can be seen with the naked eye.>>

[mmcmlln@gmail.com]

Thanks for the great photos and information. I do like the little moon for size comparison in the top right hand corner. Or maybe I just hadn't noticed it before, but it's excellent reference for a mug amateur. Ta for that. Marianne

[Arcturus]

Just another outstanding wide field mosaic from Rogelio Bernal Andreo. A flawless image, beautiful colors, unusual composition, great detail, master processing.
As I already noted in other forums, congrats Rogelio.