... NGC 1499: The California Nebula . ... Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on the west coast of the United States. ... But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like NGC 4449, about 12 million light-years distant. NGC 1999: South of Orion . ... Also at the edge of the Orion molecular cloud complex some 1,500 light-years distant, NGC 1999's illumination is provided by the embedded variable star V380 Orionis. ...