this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
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[APOD] Thor's Helmet (apod.nasa.gov)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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apod.nasa.gov

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago

Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown with a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. 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.