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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