NGC2359 Thor's Helmut

DETAILS: Optical setup: LX200 10"/Hutech LPS filter/6.3 focal reducer/AO-7 (adaptive optics)/CFW-8 filter wheel/ST-10XME camera. LRGB exposures: 120:40:40:50 minutes, guided by AO-7. Imaging data collected over several nights. Ten minute integrations combined for L, R, G, and B, then color combined in MaxIm DL; debloomed with various filters applied, levels and curves in PS.

COMMENTARY: NGC2359 is a striking, bubble-like emission nebula approximately 30 light-years across. The energetic winds are accelerated by an extremely hot Wolf-Rayet star near the center of the "helmut". Wolf-Rayets are rare and massive blue giants blowing off massive amounts of dust and gases at millions of kilometers per hour, providing the bow shock features which glow so beautifully. Thor's Helmut (personally, I think I also resembles and octopus) is about 15,000 light-years distant in the Constellation Canis Major.