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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.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Wolf-Rayet star - emission nebula - NGC 2359
Publications with words: Wolf-Rayet star - emission nebula - NGC 2359
See also:
- APOD: 2025 March 17 Á Thors Helmet
- APOD: 2025 February 18 Á Thors Helmet versus the Seagull
- APOD: 2025 February 11 Á The Spider and the Fly
- APOD: 2025 February 3 Á Wolf Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine
- APOD: 2025 January 29 Á Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb
- APOD: 2024 December 17 Á Near to the Heart Nebula
- The Elephant s Trunk in Cepheus