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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня NGC 2359: Шлем Тора http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1300800/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Bob and Janice Fera
(Fera
Photography)
Explanation:
This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with
wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet.
Heroically sized even for a
Norse god,
Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across.
In fact, the helmet is more like
an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast
wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps
through a surrounding molecular cloud.
Known as a
Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an
extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief,
pre-supernova stage of evolution.
Cataloged as NGC 2359, the
nebula is located about
15,000 light-years away in the constellation
Canis
Major.
The sharp
image, made using broadband and narrowband filters,
captures striking details of
the nebula's
filamentary structures.
It shows off a blue-green color from strong emission
due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.