Thor's Helmet Nebula Glows Brightly | Space Wallpaper

By Space.com Staff
published

Thor's Helmet Nebula Glows Brightly
In deep space NGC 2359, a glowing cloud of gas and dust takes the shape of Thor's mythical helmet and the colors declare the composition of the beautiful patches. (Image credit: J.A. Toala & M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y.-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), R.A. Gruendl (UIUC), S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, D. Verschatse & R. Gilbert (SSRO-South) and ESA)

A glowing cloud of gas and dust, known as NGC 2359, takes the shape of Thor's mythical helmet. The brilliant colors of the giant cloud express without words the makeup of the nebula: blue shows X-ray emission, while pale red and green reveal ionized hydrogen and oxygen. [Read more about Thor's Helmet.]

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.