Astronomy Picture of the Day 12-05-02

NASA ^ | 12-05-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 December 5

NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet
Credit: Christine and David Smith, Steve Mandel, Adam Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF

Explanation: NGC 2359 is a striking emission nebula with an impressive popular name - Thor's Helmet. Sure, its suggestive winged appearance might lead some to refer to it as the "duck nebula", but if you were a nebula which name would you choose? By any name NGC 2359 is a bubble-like nebula some 30 light-years across, blown by energetic winds from an extremely hot star seen near the center and classified as a Wolf-Rayet star. Wolf-Rayet stars are rare massive blue giants which develop stellar winds with speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. Interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to this nebula's more complex shape and curved bow-shock structures. NGC 2359 is about 15,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Canis Major.

Tomorrow's picture: sun block

[Michael Barnes]

I look forward every day to these posts! Your doing a great job brother...

M

[Search4Truth]

I check them out and often look forward to seeing them. I do not post because I have no words to describe them. To my mind, the pictures are for quiet introspection. Please continue posting if it is not too much of an inconvenience.

Thanks, S4T.

[Search4Truth]

There may be a silver lining to your cloud - some quality for father and son. Dads don't live for ever you know.

Wishing your Dad a quick recovery.

God bless, S4T.

P.S. AOL sucks.

[RightWhale]

I always look at your APOD thread and sometimes bump it. Educators can't do more than keep the merch on the shelves in the hopes that a student here and there will take an interest.

[ThinkPlease]

Ding! I read it every day!

[MeekOneGOP]

Yes, thank you !

P.S. AOL sucks.

Yeah, I fired 'em over a year ago when I signed up for the AT&T Broadband Internet. Backsliding is no good, lol !

[Pippin]

I vote #1!

[petuniasevan]

Per your freepmail - I'd love to spend Q & A time on here, but most times it's not feasible. I try to post these as soon as I can after the NASA site does - at midnight Eastern time - when I'm on this shift. As most Freepers don't stop in at the thread until mid-morning, I'm usually offline.

I work rotating shifts; I am on mids this week (2:30 to 10:30 PM). Next week it's day shift (6:30 AM to 2:30 PM).
The following week is night shift (10:30 PM to 6:30 AM).

That's why my post time for the APOD varies so much; on mids it's no problem to post right away. However, when I'm on day shift, staying up until local 11PM to post the APOD is not smart; I need to be AWAKE around machinery...so I try to post before work, but sometimes don't get the chance until after 3PM. And night shift delays my post until after 7AM.

So I'm kind of in the same boat as JohnHuang2. I post but since often do in the middle of the night I don't get a lot of feedback.

But by all means ask questions; I will try to get back to you later that day or the next day.

And thanks for all your support and patience.

[petuniasevan]

Is your dad recovering okay? I sure hope so.
It's good of you to take care of him.

I don't want to imply that anyone, least of all you, doesn't appreciate the APOD. Your BTTTs are noticed and welcomed.

It's just that in this cyber-classroom, I can't see if the students are here. Once in a while I've got to take roll call.

[trussell]

I vote # 1.

I have 51 apod pictures in my picture folder. My picture folder is used as my screen saver.

I love these pictures. I just figured you might get tired of me posting "Beautiful" all the time.

Thank you for the time you put in to this thread. I really do enjoy getting my APOD ping.

[Jael]

I like it. I used to check the web site but forgot about it. I would look at it if bumped.

[xJones]

Would you please put me on a ping list? I don't usually go to the General forum and have obviously missed so much. This photo was beautiful, and I'll start looking for more of your threads. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[petuniasevan]

Thank you for checking in. Of course I'll add you to the APOD PING list.

Right now I'm typing this on the other computer; mine has a glitch and lost its uplink. I will reboot it and post the new APOD in a few.

[petuniasevan]

No, t.r., I never get tired of the assorted "oohs" and "aahs".

[MeekOneGOP]

Dad's doing MUCH better now, thanks. I'll be bumping again shortly, I'm sure!

[ExpandNATO]

A bit late, but...

Please continue posting APODs. It is a relief from the politics.