California Nostalgia

Spanning 100 light years long and lying 1000 light years away from Earth, the California Nebula glows prominently in the night sky as ionized Hydrogen atoms recombine with electrons stripped away by energetic starlight. The star that's likely ionizing much of the gasses in this nebula is the hot blue star Xi Persei (off-frame, but further up above). What you see here is a close-up of the nebula; if you were to zoom out, you would be able to make out the shape of California. About 11 hours of exposures went into creating this photo. Here are the details on how I produced this photograph: • Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT • Camera: ZWO ASI183MM Pro • Light Filters: Antlia 3nm H-alpha, OIII, SII • Mount: iOptron GEM28 • Guiding: ASI120MM Mini (30mm scope) • Control Hub: ZWO ASIAIR Pro • Calibration: 40 dark, flat, dark-flat frames • Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor • Editing: Photoshop, Starnet++ • Total Exposure: 10.5 hours