I never cease to be amazed at the imagination shown by astronomers over the years in coming up with names to attach to celestial nebulae. Here is a look from last week at Thor’s Helmet, a hat shaped emission nebula with wing-like appendages, more formally known as NGC 2359.
Thor’s Helmet (NGC 2359) (110 min total exposure Jan 15, 2023)
Using sufficient imagination, NGC 2359 does resemble the famous headwear of the Norse god of thunder and lightning. (Thor even has his own day – Thursday.)
It has also been nicknamed the Duck Nebula. (I have trouble visualizing that one!) Or maybe it resembles a turtle. . . Or maybe it sort of resembles that green Inchworm riding toy my kids used to have. . .
Anyway, NGC 2359 is about 15 thousand light years away from us and about 30 light years across, heroic dimensions appropriate to a Norse god. The nebula is an interstellar bubble, blown by a fast stellar wind of charged particles from the extremely hot bright massive star near the bubble’s center. That central star is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years. Notice the orangish color of the bow shock at the left and right edges.