Thors’ Helmet

Very interesting target, but challenging windy conditions in the country blowing hard gusts up to 30-40kph meant that I had to add data from home to finish this image.

8.0 Hrs Ha 3nm x 600 secs
3.5 Hrs O3 3nm x 600 secs
20mins RG&B 120 secs

Taken from Kilmore, Victoria with additional NB Data from suburban Melbourne.

Honourable Mention 2019 CWAS David Malin Awards

About this Nebula

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. This image, made using broadband (RGB stars) and narrowband Ha & O3) filters, captures details of the nebula’s filamentary structures. It shows off a blueish color from strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas. (Apod)