Object Description: A large emission nebula in Perseus, it is probably being excited by the bright blue star at the bottom of the image, Xi Persei. Popularly known as "The California Nebula". due to its' resemblance to the outline of the state. The image is oriented North up.

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106N
Camera: Canon 40D self-modified w/ Baader UV/IR cut filter
Mount: ParamountME unguided
Filters: none

Date Taken: 23OCT2008
Location: Lot4, Arcturus Way, Sacramento Mountains Astronomy Park, Weed, NM
Sky Conditions: transparency 2/5, seeing averaged 2.45 arcseconds for the night.
Image Acquisition: 48x300s, iso800 using ImagesPlus 3.5

Image Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80 used for data reduction, alignment, SigMed combine, initial DDP. PSCS2 used for levels, curves, and color enhancement. GradX for background equalization. Not sure why I didn't process this at the time, just recently discovered the data on my PC, along with some other data. I believe this is the last image I took with IP before totally automating with CCDSoft and CCDCommander.