Thor’s Helmet

Thor’s Helmet, NGC 2359
By Rony De Laet

The plan for the evening was to observe and sketch Messier 50. I was trying to starhop from Sirius to M50. Gamma Canis Majoris would be an easy reference in between. From there, M50 could be found a mere five degrees North. Instead of using the finder, I love to pan the scope with a low power eyepiece. Much to my surprise, the milkyway (so near to the horizon) was clearly visible in the eyepiece. The area East of Sirius appeared to be very fascinating. While working my way up to M50, I stumbled upon an unexpected fuzzy object. Most open cluster appear fuzzy at low power, but this one was different. I tried a higher power to resolve the object, but without result. There aren’t that much nebulae around, visible with my small aperture, so I guessed it had to be Thor’s Helmet, NGC 2359 ! How exciting! Bad news for M50, which would have to wait for another occasion. Armed with a UHC filter, I started to sketch the nebula. It took me quit a while to understand the view my eyes were showing. At first I saw a bar, or no, a hook. Then with a lot of patience, the hook resolved into a more complex structure. The observation was very rewarding, and I hope to revisit the object under a darker sky soon. Here’s the sketch.

Date : February 9, 2008
Time : around 22.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Eyepiece : Plössl 15 mm
Power : x33
FOV: 90′
Filter : UHC
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 2,5/5
Nelm : 4,8
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.