Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  HD57008  ·  HD57027  ·  HD57057  ·  HD57083  ·  LBN 1040  ·  LBN 1041  ·  NGC 2359  ·  Sh2-298
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NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, Jeff Weiss
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NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet

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NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, Jeff Weiss
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NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet

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Description

NGC 2359 (also known as Thor's Helmet) is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula is approximately 12K light years away and 30 light-years in size. The central star is the Wolf-Rayet star WR7, an extremely hot star thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of evolution.  Interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to the more complex shape and curved bow-shock structure of Thor's Helmet. [based on Wikipedia].
The nebula has an overall bubble shape, but with complex filamentary structures. The nebula contains several hundred solar masses of ionised material, plus several thousand more of neutral gas. It is largely interstellar material swept up by winds from the central star, although some material does appear to be enriched with the products of fusion (i.e. "metals")* and is likely to come directly from the star.  

The data were collected in two sessions by DeepSkyWest in Rio Hurtato, Chile:  Oct-Dec 2022 and Feb-Mar 2023 .

Rev C: cropped vertically to show more of the details in the helmet.

*Astonomer's definition of "metals" is anything heavier than Hydrogen and Helium (excluding Carbon & Oxygen).

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  • NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, Jeff Weiss
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, Jeff Weiss
    C

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NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, Jeff Weiss