NGC 2359 is otherwise known as Thor’s Helmet due to its resemblance to the famed Norse God of thunder and lightning. The nebula is located in Canis Major, and contains a large bright star whose “stellar wind” is responsible for the creation of the nebula. However, that star is of the unstable “Wolf-Rayet” variety, and may go supernova in the relatively near astronomical future.

Technical details as follows:

RCOS 16″ @ f/11.3; Apogee U9; Paramount ME; Ha/OIII/RGB with 12 hours Ha, 8 hours OIII, and 2 hours/channel RGB; processed with CCDInspector, Maxim, Registar, Sigma Combine, Neat Image, Photoshop, and PixInsight; SSRO @ CTIO, Chile; data acquired in March 2010.

Selected as one of the best astroimages of 2012 by National Geographic!