by APOD Robot » Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:07 am
NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet
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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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140215.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_140215.jpg[/img] [size=150]NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Heroically sized even for a [url=http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/thor.html]Norse god[/url], Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is more like [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131214.html]an interstellar bubble[/url], blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a [url=http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980603a.html]Wolf-Rayet star[/url], the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050910.html]supernova[/url] stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100319.html]nebula is located[/url] about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation [url=http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=115]Canis Major[/url]. The [url=http://www.feraphotography.com/AM14/Ngc2359.html]sharp image[/url], made using broadband and narrowband filters, captures striking details of [url=http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/118/2/948]the nebula's[/url] filamentary structures. It shows off a blue-green color from strong emission [url=http://fusedweb.llnl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/Nebula/Forbidden.html]due to oxygen[/url] atoms in the glowing gas.
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