NGC2359 - Thor's Helmet

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (3804x2588)

Scope: Celestron 9.25 Edge HD 235 mm at f/7, Location: DAA Observatory, Shelter Valley,   3 and 24 February 2022, Camera: ASI294MM (Baader Ha, RGB, ZWO OIII filters)

Exposure: 48 x 4 minutes H-Alpha (1x1 bin gain-180), 48 x 4 min OIII (1x1 bin gain-180), 20 x 2 minutes RGB exposures (2x2 bin gain-121)

Processing: Data Collection -  Sequence Generator Pro (as FITs).  Sub-frame calibration - Pixinsight. Sub-frame  registration and integration (Average combine -  Winsorized Sigma Clipping) - PixInsight.  Mure Denoise - PixInsight. Non-linear stretching, normalization and gradient removal - PixInsight.  Generation of starless nebulosity Ha and OIII images for later processing - Star XTerminator. Curves, Levels, stars RGB combine, stars Luminance layering - PixInsight. Color Stars and Starless  combine - PixInsight.  Final finishing  - Affinity Photo.  Photometric RGB calibration - PixInsight. Annotation - PixInsight, Aladin (Simbad and NED), and Affinity Photo. This image is a  Bicolor narrow band image (modified HOO) with RGB stars.  Image processed at 4144x2822 resolution. Final Image size is approximately  3804x2588.

North is up in this image.  NGC 2359 is also known as "Thor's Helmet" due to its distinctive shape. The "helmet" shape is a gas bubble formed by a very energetic Wolf-Rayet star (HD56925) in the center of this bubble. The bubble is formed from the expelled outer layers of this star that are ejected at high velocity. NGC 2359 is also cataloged as Sh2-298, GUM 4 and LBN 1041. Thor's Helmut is about 16,000 light years distant. Also in this image is NGC 2361 (a knot - as part of NGC2359), and the weak emission region IC 468 (also cataloged as LBN 1040). These objects and some of the brighter stars are identified in the annotated image.  This image replaces an earlier image that can be seen in the Archives here. Horizontal FOV is approximately 39 arc minutes. Full size image scale is 0.62 arcsec/pix.

Image center is located approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 07h 18m 29s Dec: -13°13'49" 

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2022

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