NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet
Model: gemini-2.0-flash-exp
Prompt version: 1.0
NGC 2359 is a helmet-shaped Nebula with wing-like appendages popularly called Thor’s Helmet. Thor’s Helmet Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor’s Helmet is about 30 light-years across.
In fact, the helmet is more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble’s center inflates a region within the surrounding Molecular Cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-Supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major.
The remarkably detailed image is a mixed cocktail of data from broadband and narrowband filters that captures natural looking stars and the glow of the Nebula’s filamentary structures. It highlights a blue-green color from strong emission due to Oxygen Emission atoms in the glowing gas. This is a stunning piece of Astrophotography and a testament to the beauty of the Cosmos and Celestial wonders.