The X-ray Lightning Inside the Thor's Helmet Nebula
Minimum credit line: Image courtesy of J.A. Toala and M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y.-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), R.A. Gruendl (UIUC), S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, D. Verschatse and R. Gilbert (SSRO-South) and ESA. (for details, see Conditions of Use).
Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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| About this Image |
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NGC 2359 is an emission nebula in the constellation of Canis Major whose morphology, consisting of a main shell with a series of blisters, blowouts, and very prominent and long filaments, has dubbed it as the Thor's Helmet Nebula. The nebula is blown by the powerful stellar wind of HD 56925 (a.k.a. WR 7), an evolved massive star. The strong shock of the stellar wind with the circumstellar material produces hot plasma at temperatures above two million degrees. The distribution of the hot gas inside this wind-blown bubble nebula has been mapped by the XMM-Newton EPIC instrument. Hot gas is confined inside the main nebula and a Northeast blowout. X-ray emission from the Southeast regions of the nebula is blocked by thick dust lanes. The image was created using optical (red and green) and XMM-Newton X-ray images (blue).
Investigator(s): J.A. Toala and M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y.-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), and R.A. Gruendl (UIUC)
| For More Information |
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- Read the Press Release
- Visit related website;
http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.2037 - Detailed description of this image
- Query XSA archive for XMM-Newton data in the field of NGC 2359
- Astronomical database entries for NGC 2359;
- Query NED for more images about NGC 2359
- Query SIMBAD for more NGC 2359 data
- For unfamiliar terms, visit the XMM-Newton Astronomical Glossary
| Instrument | EPIC | ||
| Observing Mode | Full Frame | ||
| Filter | Medium | ||
| Date of Observation | 2013-04-09 | ||
| Image size | 12.00 x 10.00 arcmin | ||
| Detailed Caption | Composite-colour picture of NGC 2359. Red and green map the emission in the H-alpha and [O III] optical lines, respectively, obtained by the Stars and Shadows Remote Observatory (SSRO) South at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Blue corresponds to the 0.3-1.1 keV diffuse X-ray emission detected by the XMM-Newton EPIC cameras. X-ray point-sources have been excised in this image. The XMM-Newton observations were performed with the medium optical filter with net exposure times of 89, 93, and 65 ks for the MOS1, MOS2, and pn cameras, respectively. The image has a field of view of 12 arcmin x 10 arcmin. North is up, east to the left. | ||
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