Robby
17th January 2008, 01:44 AM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0801/NGC2359_gendler_rc800.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0801/NGC2359AUL_gendler.jpg)
Thor's Emerald Helmet
Credit & Copyright (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/ about_apod.html#srapply): Robert Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/)
Explanation: This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n2359.html). Heroically sized even for a Norse god (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/thor.html), Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051107.html), blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/ 980603a.html), the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050910.html) stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major (http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=115). The sharp image (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC2359AU.html) captures striking details of the nebula's filamentary structures and also records an almost emerald color from strong emission due to oxygen (http://fusedweb.llnl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/Nebula/ Forbidden.html) atoms in the glowing gas.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080117.html)
Thor's Emerald Helmet
Credit & Copyright (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/ about_apod.html#srapply): Robert Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/)
Explanation: This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/n2359.html). Heroically sized even for a Norse god (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/thor.html), Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051107.html), blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/ 980603a.html), the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050910.html) stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major (http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=115). The sharp image (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC2359AU.html) captures striking details of the nebula's filamentary structures and also records an almost emerald color from strong emission due to oxygen (http://fusedweb.llnl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/Nebula/ Forbidden.html) atoms in the glowing gas.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080117.html)