Emission nebula
California Nebula (NGC1499)
In Perseus (Per) • Magnitude 5.0 • 2.4 degrees
Open the free AstroPlanner with California Nebula pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A long, narrow Ha emission nebula in Perseus, shaped like California.
California Nebula at a glance
| Catalog IDs | N 1499 |
| Type | Emission nebula |
| Constellation | Perseus (Per) |
| Right ascension | 04h 03m 18s |
| Declination | +36° 22' 12" |
| Apparent magnitude | 5.00 |
| Surface brightness | 15.0 mag/arcsec² |
| Angular size | 145.0 × 40.0 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 81° |
| Best imaging months | Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan |
How to image California Nebula
California Nebula sits in the constellation Perseus at right ascension 04h 03m 18s and declination +36° 22' 12". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window. As an emission nebula, California Nebula responds very well to dual-narrowband filters under city skies.