Wallpaper author:
Michelle Ashford
19 Feb 2022
NGC 2359 Thor's Helmut
NGC 2359 is a helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages popularly called Thor's Helmet located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major.
The massive star near the bubble's centre inflates a region within the 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.
Dataset from which the image was processed
NGC 2359
18 credit
- Type of target............................................................................................................................Emission Nebula
- Camera............................................................................................................................FLI ProLine PL9000
- Target coordinates............................................................................................................................RA 109.625 Dec -13.2267
- Hemisphere............................................................................................................................Southern
- Telescope location............................................................................................................................Chile
- Transient event............................................................................................................................No
- Observed on............................................................................................................................31 Oct 2019 - 20 Dec 2022
Filter | Avg Exp (s) | Total Exposure | Subframes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 94 | 1h36m | 61 |
| Red | 133 | 2h15m | 61 |
| Blue | 83 | 1h24m | 61 |
| Luminance | 156 | 2h36m | 60 |
| Halpha | 895 | 14h55m | 60 |