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NGC-2359 - Thor's Helmet (Captured 1/29/25)
NGC 2359 (also known as Thor's Helmet) is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula is approximately 11.96 thousand light years away and 30 light-years in size. The central star is the Wolf-Rayet star WR7, an extremely hot star thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of evolution. It is similar in nature to the Bubble Nebula, but interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to the more complex shape and curved bow-shock structure of Thor's Helmet.
The annotated image to the left shows other items of interest in the capture.
Due to weather conditions in January (endless cloudy nights), I was only able to capture data for a few nights. The target is also above the horizon for a few hours each night. The image consists of 54 five minute exposures each of Hydrogen Alpha and Sulfur II, and 51 five minute exposures of Oxygen III. The stars are comprised of 25 thirty second exposures each of Red, Green and Blue. These images are stacked together to increase the signal to noise ratio resulting in a total integration time of 13 hours and 15 minutes. I processed the images using PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop software. I used my Astro-Tech AT130-EDT telescope, with a focal length of 910mm, a ZWO 2600MM astronomy camera, Antlia 3nm Ha, Sii, and Oiii narrow band filters, and Antlia RGB filters. I used the Orion Short-Tube 80 guide scope and ZWO 220MM Mini guide camera all atop the iOptron CEM70AW telescope mount.
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