December: Test shots with new scopes/mounts
Dec 21: TMB 80/480 Arrives!
Dec 3: AP1200 Arrives!
Nov 30: TMB 152/1200 Arrives!
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This is NGC 2359, aka Thor's Helmet, in the constellation of Canis Major. NGC 2359 glows from the energetic winds from a so-called Wolf-Rayet Star, HD 56925 (see label in the mouse-over feature). As described in this APOD, “Wolf-Rayet stars are rare massive blue giants which develop stellar winds with speeds of millions of kilometers per hour.” The blue-green color is mostly [OIII] emission. Pretty cool. The RGB data was collected over two fairly horrible nights. This image could definitely use some Hα exposures to improve the contrast, but that will probably need to wait until next year. A higher resolution image is also available. North is left.