Space Time
Also known as NGC 1499.
One record per aspect. The origin says what kind of thing each value is; the source says where it came from; the limit says what it cannot tell you.
California Nebula image-field center is placed at J2000 RA 4 h, Dec 36.6° in Perseus, at an adopted distance of 1,000 light-years.
California Nebula (star-forming emission nebula; central source California Nebula, embedded stellar population): projected footprint at the adopted distance 29.7 × 44.2 light-years; outer radius used for arrival 22.1 light-years.
The published optical field preserves the nebula’s elongated outline. Placement adopts the approximate 1000-light-year distance in the credited image caption; published estimates differ. Projected structure follows the credited observation at its published angular scale and an approximate adopted distance. Shallow depth is illustrative, not measured tomography. The source palette is preserved; brightness is adjusted for the navigable view.