NGC 2359, also known as Thor’s Helmet, is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula is approximately 12,000 light years away and 30 light-years in size.
The nebula contains several hundred solar masses of ionised material, plus several thousand more of unionised 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 and is likely to come directly from the star. The expansion rate of different portions of the nebula varies from 10 km/s to at least 30 km/s, leading to age estimates of 78,500 – 236,000 years.
The image comprises approximately six hours data captured in late February 2026 from the Moutere Valley, split 4.5 hours NB data and 1.5 hours RGB for the stars. The scope Focal length was 749mm and captured with a ZWO ASI585 MM Pro which has 2.9-micron pixels. The mount was a ZWO AM5N which recorded approx 0.5 arcsec guiding. The image was processed in PixInsight.
Simon
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