NGC 2359 · nebula
Thor's Helmet Nebula
NGC 2359 is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA. Source: JPL via images.nasa.gov.
Identity & coordinates
Identification
- Primary designation
- NGC 2359
- All designations
- NGC 2359 · Thor's Helmet
- Object type
- Nebula
- Constellation
- Canis Major
- Best viewing
- Winter
Coordinates & physical
- Right ascension (J2000)
- 07h 18m 30s
- Declination (J2000)
- −13° 13' 37"
- Apparent magnitude (V)
- —
- Distance
- —
Visibility tonight
The science
NGC 2359 is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula is approximately 3,670 parsecs 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.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA-4.0
References
- SIMBAD Not resolved
- NED Fetched May 8, 2026 View in NED ↗
- Wikipedia Fetched May 8, 2026 Read full article ↗
Wikipedia title resolved via common_name+suffix — added the type suffix to the seed common name.
1 merge conflict resolved
- coordinates: SIMBAD missing → NED used