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NGC 2359


 

Object:

NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet in Canis Maj

RA = 7 hrs 18 min; Dec = -13 deg 14 min

Date & Site:

Imaged on 12/21 and 12/22/17; Carlsbad, CA

Conditions: temps in the low 40's; calm; very good seeing

Equipment:

Telescope: TEC 140mm Refractor 980 mm at f/7

Guider: SBIG external guide camera with Hutech OAG5

Mount: Losmandy G-11 with Gemini I
Camera: ST-10XME; CFW10; Astrodon Narrowband (3nm) Ha, SII OIII and Gen 2 RGB filters

Notes:

Exposures: 60 min each (15 min subs) of Ha, OIII, SII and 60 minutes each of RGB (5 min subs) for total of 6 hrs. Color mapped using the Hubble palette by assigning hydrogen to green, ionized sulfur to red and doubly ionized oxygen to blue for the nebula, while retaining conventional RGB for stars.

NGC 2359 contains a central star known as a Wolf-Rayet star - an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Interactions between this transition star and a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to contribute to the complex shape and curved bow-shock structure of Thor's Helmet.

The object is 30 light years across and 15,000 light years away

Reduced 60% from original

FOV = 52 x 35 arc minutes

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