Rabbit Nebula (Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359)

in Canis Maior

Rabbit Nebula (Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359)
Éder Iván

This nebula catalogued as NGC 2359, located in Canis Maior constellation, lies about 15000 light years away. It widely known as Thor's Helmet Nebula, but it looks more like a rabbit to me.
There is a giant, extremely hot Wolf-Rayet star in the middle of the gas, called WR 7. The nebula is being excited by the strong ionising radiation of this star.

Image details

Instrument:
200/750 Newton, Paracorr Type-II (860mm effective focal length)
Camera:
QSI 683 WSG-8, Ha, OIII, LRGB filters
Mount:
SkyWatcher EQ6 + Boxdörfer DynoStar
Guiding:
Off axis, Lacerta-MGen autoguider + Mgen2Maxim
Exposure time, filters:
330 minutes (Ha: 2x30, OIII: 3x30, L: 3x10, RGB: 5-5-5x10 mins)
Location, date:
Hakos astrofarm, Namibia (1835m); May, 2016
Observing conditions:
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing: 7/10, Temperature: +15°C
Processing:
ImagesPlus, Registar, Pixinsight LE, Photoshop

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