Wallpaper author:
Michelle Ashford
24 Mar 2023
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
3 credit
- Type of target............................................................................................................................Emission Nebula
- Camera............................................................................................................................FLI PL16803
- Target coordinates............................................................................................................................RA 109.625 Dec -13.2267
- Hemisphere............................................................................................................................Southern
- Telescope location............................................................................................................................Chile
- Transient event............................................................................................................................No
- Observed on............................................................................................................................27 Nov 2020 - 27 Dec 2020
Filter | Avg Exp (s) | Total Exposure | Subframes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halpha | 450 | 1h30m | 12 |
| OIII | 491 | 1h30m | 11 |
| SII | 273 | 50m | 11 |