2026-06-09
Thor's Helmet
The universe showed off again today — Thor's Helmet. Here is what NASA captured:
Why this matters
Behind the picture is deep-space objects. Light that left these objects long ago is only reaching us now, which is why a single image can double as a snapshot of the distant past.
See it live on ObjectTracer
This connects to what you can track in real time on our 3D globe — explore Deep Space galaxy map. Or open the live globe to watch flights, satellites, the ISS and spacecraft move right now.
The science, from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. 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 by 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. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This sharp image is a combination of deep images taken in light emitted by hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue). The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995)
Image credit: Josep Drudis, Christian Sasse · Source: NASA APOD
More from the Space Journal
- RCW 86: Historical Supernova Remnant2026-07-24
- The Large Magellanic Cloud2026-07-23
- The Corona Australis Molecular Cloud and the Chandelier Cluster2026-07-22
- Auroras from Space2026-07-13
- Venus and Jupiter: Conjunction from Avebury2026-06-12
- SDO Observes a Coronal Mass Ejection2026-06-24
← Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time · The Eagle Nebula and Friends →