California Nebula

This is an emission nebula located 1,000 light years away from us in the constellation Perseus. It earned it's name due to it's resemblance to the US State. Its fluorescence is probably due to ionization of Hydrogen in the nebula by the nearby very energetic O-star (Massive, luminous, blue star of spectral type O) Menkib seen at center above in my picture. This image was captured over 6 days, with over 57 hours of data, in 2023 and 2024 using a small 2 inch refractor telescope.